Plasmids and phages for homologous recombination and methods of use

ABSTRACT

Lambda phages that can be used to introduce recombineering functions into host cells are disclosed. Also disclosed are plasmids that can be used to confer recombineering functions to a variety of strains of  E. coli  and to other bacteria, including  Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Cyanobacteria, Spirochaetes . These plasmids and phages can be isolated in vitro and can be used to transform bacterial cells, such as gram negative bacteria.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/573,504, filed May 21, 2004, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/653,259, filed Feb. 14, 2005, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/655,729, filed Feb. 22, 2005. The parent provisional applications are all incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD

This application relates to recombinant DNA technology, specifically to plasmids and phages of use for introducing homologous recombination functions into host cells.

BACKGROUND

Concerted use of restriction endonucleases and DNA ligases allows in vitro recombination of DNA sequences. The recombinant DNA generated by restriction and ligation may be amplified in an appropriate microorganism such as E. coli, and used for diverse purposes including gene therapy. However, the restriction-ligation approach has two practical limitations: first, DNA molecules can be precisely combined only if convenient restriction sites are available; second, because useful restriction sites often repeat in a long stretch of DNA, the size of DNA fragments that can be manipulated are limited, usually to less than about 20 kilobases.

Homologous recombination, generally defined as an exchange of homologous segments anywhere along a length of two DNA molecules, provides an alternative method for engineering DNA. In generating recombinant DNA with homologous recombination, a microorganism such as E. coli, or a eukaryotic cell such as a yeast or vertebrate cell, is transformed with an exogenous strand of DNA. The center of the exogenous DNA contains the desired transgene, whereas each flank contains a segment of homology with the cell's DNA. The exogenous DNA is introduced into the cell with standard techniques such as electroporation or calcium phosphate-mediated transfection, and recombines into the cell's DNA, for example with the assistance of recombination-promoting proteins in the cell.

In generating recombinant DNA by homologous recombination, it is often advantageous to work with short linear segments of DNA. For example, a mutation may be introduced into a linear segment of DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. Under proper circumstances, the mutation may then be introduced into cellular DNA by homologous recombination. Such short linear DNA segments can transform yeast, but subsequent manipulation of recombinant DNA in yeast is laborious. It is generally easier to work in bacteria, but linear DNA fragments do not readily transform bacteria (due in part to degradation by bacterial exonucleases). Accordingly, recombinants are rare, require special poorly-growing strains (such as RecBCD-strains) and generally require thousands of base pairs of homology.

Recently, a method for homologous recombination, termed “recombineering” has made it possible to clone nucleic acids in specific strains of E. coli using homologous recombination. However, the number of strains of E. coli that can be used in this method are limited. Thus, methods of introducing recombineering functions into other strains of E. coli are needed. In addition, methods of introducing these functions into other bacteria, including other gram negative bacteria, are also needed.

SUMMARY

Recombineering utilizes the recombination functions encoded by lambdoid bacteriophages to efficiently catalyze homologous recombination in vivo between DNA sequences with homologies as short as 35 bases. Recombineering provides methods to clone and modify genes on plasmids, on BACs, on the chromosome of enteric bacteria, and on bacteriophage λ without the necessity of restriction enzymes or DNA ligase. Recombineering also allows rapid and precise in vivo manipulation of DNA.

Disclosed herein are plasmids that can be used to confer recombineering functions to a variety of cells, including strains of E. coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Cyanobacteria, and Spirochaetes, amongst others. These mobilizable plasmids can be manipulated in vitro and can be used to transform bacterial cells, such as gram negative bacteria. These plasmids include an origin of replication specific for the bacterial cell(s) of interest, a de-repressible promoter, and a nucleic acid encoding a single-stranded binding protein such as Beta. In additional embodiments, the plasmids include a nucleic acid encoding Exo and/or Gam. In one example, the plasmid includes an origin of replication and a lambda genome having DNA encoding functional Beta and optionally Exo, and Gam, or functional fragments or variants thereof, operably linked to a de-repressible promoter (such as, but not limited to, the λ P_(L)promoter). In one example, the plasmids include an origin of replication, a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker, a nucleic acid encoding a promoter operably linked to nucleic acid sequence encoding a repressor that specifically binds a de-repressible promoter, and the de-repressible promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding Beta and a terminator 3′ of the nucleic acid encoding a single-stranded binding protein. Bacterial host cells transformed with the vector are capable of performing homologous recombination.

Lambda phages that can be used to introduce recombineering functions into host cells are also disclosed herein. These phages include amber mutations in an essential gene(s) and include a selectable marker. In this manner, the phage will enter the lytic cycle in a host cell that includes a suppressor of the amber mutation and cause host cell death. However, the phage will be able to lysogenize in cells that do not include the suppressor mutation(s). In one example, the phage includes a repressor that binds a P_(L) promoter, a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous nucleic acid sequence, P_(L), and a nucleic acid encoding Beta operably linked to P_(L), a nucleic acid encoding P, a nucleic acid encoding O, and a nucleic acid encoding Cro. At least two of the nucleic acids (genes) encoding P, the nucleic acid encoding O, and the nucleic acid encoding Cro include an amber codon. Thus, at least two of P, O, and Cro proteins are not produced when the lambda phage is introduced into a suppressor minus host cell, but are produced in host cells that include appropriate tRNA suppressors. In this manner lytic phage in high yields can be produced in host cells that include the appropriate tRNA suppressors.

The foregoing and other features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description of several embodiments, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram showing classical recombinant technology, and FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram showing “recombineering” using homologous recombination, as disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the genetic map of lambda phage, showing the position of the major genes in a wild-type lambda nucleic acid.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the plasmid pSIM4 pUC rex<>amp.

FIGS. 4A-F are the nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) of pSIM4 (see FIG. 3), which encodes cI (SEQ ID NO: 10), Gam (SEQ ID NO: 11), Bet (SEQ ID NO: 12) and Exo (SEQ ID NO: 13) and Bla (Amp^(R)) (SEQ ID NO: 15). The amino acid sequence for each of the proteins is shown below the DNA sequence of pSIM4 (SEQ ID NO: 2) identified with its letters. Since the genes are transcribed from the sequence shown in the figure from right to left the proteins are shown in this orientation, and the number of the amino acid is shown at the left edge. Each protein staffs with M (for methionine) and above that M in the DNA sequence is the name of the gene (protein) Gam, Beta or Exo (SEQ ID NOs: 11-13). In the sequence shown in the panels of this figure, the coding sequence of DNA is the bottom strand. Thus, the start codon is “GTA” on the bottom but is read right to left as “ATG.” Exo staffs M T P D I I (the first amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 13), Beta starts M S T A L (the first amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 12), Gam starts M N A Y Y (the first amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 11). The nucleic acid encoding the phage genes from pSIM4, pSIM6 and pSIM8 is set forth as SEQ ID NO: 9.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the plasmid pSIM5-pSC101 rex<>cat.

FIGS. 6A-G is the nucleotide sequence of pSIM5 (SEQ ID NO: 3). The phage genes from pSIM5 are set forth in the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 8 (the amino acid sequences of Beta, Gam and Exo are set forth as SEQ ID NOs: 11-13). The sequence of the CAT drug cassette is shown in SEQ ID NO: 14, and the amino acid sequence of Repts is shown in SEQ ID NO: 16. The amino acid sequence of cI857 is shown in SEQ ID NO: 10, and the amino acid sequence of the Orf of pSIM5 is set forth as SEQ ID NO: 17.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of plasmid pSIM6-pSC101 rex<>amp (SEQ ID NO: 4).

FIGS. 8A-F are the nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 4) of pSIM6-pSC101 rex<>amp (see FIG. 6) and the polypeptides encoded by this plasmid (SEQ ID NOs: 10-13, 15, 16 and 17). The phage genes of pSIM6 are shown in the nucleotide sequence set forth as SEQ ID NO: 9.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of plasmid pSIM8-pBBR1 rex<>amp (SEQ ID NO: 6).

FIGS. 10A-G are the nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 6) of plasmid pSIM8-pBBR1 rex<>amp and the polypeptides encoded by this plasmid (SEQ ID NOs: 10-13, 15, 18). The phage genes of pSIM8 are shown in the nucleotide sequence set forth as SEQ ID NO: 9.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of plasmid pSIM2 with rex<>cat.

FIGS. 12A-E are the nucleotide sequence of pSIM2 (SEQ ID NO: 1) and the encoded polypeptides (SEQ ID NOs: 10-14). The phage genes of pSIM2 are set forth as SEQ ID NO: 8.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of plasmid pSIM7 with rex<>cat (SEQ ID NO: 5).

FIG. 14A-G are the nucleotide sequence of pSIM7 (SEQ ID NO: 5); the nucleotide sequence of the phage genes are set forth as SEQ ID NO: 8. Polypeptides encoded by the plasmid are set forth as SEQ ID NOs: 10-13, 14, and 18.

FIGS. 15A-G are the nucleotide sequence of pSIM9 (SEQ ID NO:7). The amino acid sequences of the encoded polypeptides (SEQ ID NOs: 10-14, 14, 18 and 19) are also shown.

FIG. 16A is a schematic diagram of a lambda prophage without the N-kil region and wherein a selectable marker is inserted into the prophage rex genes. FIG. 16B is a schematic diagram of the generation of a plasmid using the prophage shown in FIG. 16A by the method of recombineering (retrieval by gap repair of a linear vector containing terminal homologies to the target). FIGS. 16C-16D are schematic diagrams of the creation of a PCR product including a pBR322-type origin of replication (FIG. 16C) and the replacement of an origin on a plasmid with another origin of interest (FIG. 16D).

FIGS. 17A-B are the lambda nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 24) showing the rex genes. The sequence numbers are the same as in the lambda genomic sequence. The protein sequence of RexA (SEQ ID NO: 25 and RexB (SEQ ID NO: 26) is shown. Note that the amino acid sequence of RexA and RexB each begin with a methioine (M). In the figure the sequences are read from the initiating methionine (at the N-terminus) from right to left.

FIGS. 18A-B are the nucleic acid sequence of the rexAB<>tetRA wherein the tet genes (SEQ ID NO: 29) replace the rexAB genes (SEQ ID NO: 25, SEQ ID NO: 26). The flanking sequence of lambda is used to illustrate the exact sequence replacement. The sequence numbers at the top left are the same as in the lambda genomic sequence. The amino acid sequences of tetA (SEQ ID NO: 28) and tetR (SEQ ID NO: 27) are shown.

FIG. 19 is the lambda nucleic acid sequence of the S gene (SEQ ID NO: 30) encoding the S protein (SEQ ID NO: 31). The sequence numbers are the same as in the lambda genomic sequence.

FIGS. 20A-B are the sequence of S<>tetRA wherein the S gene is replaced by the tetRA genes. The sequence numbers at the top left are the same as in the lambda genomic sequence. The amino acid sequences of tetA (SEQ ID NO: 13) and tetR (SEQ ID NO: 14) are shown.

FIG. 21 is the nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 21) encoding the S. typhimurium galK protein (galK−, SEQ ID NO: 20).

SEQUENCE LISTING

The nucleic and amino acid sequences listed in the accompanying sequence listing are shown using standard letter abbreviations for nucleotide bases, and three letter code for amino acids, as defined in 37 C.F.R. 1.822. If only one strand of each nucleic acid sequence is shown, the complementary strand is understood as included by any reference to the displayed strand, if appropriate in context.

The sequence listing is submitted on CD-ROM (in duplicate) herewith. The 016 kb text file on these CD-ROM discs, entitled “sequence listing.txt” and created on May 20, 2005, is incorporated by reference herein.

In the accompanying sequence listing:

SEQ ID NO: 1 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM2.

SEQ ID NO: 2 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM4.

SEQ ID NO: 3 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM5.

SEQ ID NO: 4 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM6.

SEQ ID NO: 5 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM7.

SEQ ID NO: 6 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM8.

SEQ ID NO: 7 is the nucleic acid sequence of pSIM9.

SEQ ID NO: 8 is the nucleic acid sequence of the phage genes of pSIM2, pSIM5, pSIM7 and pSIM9 plasmids.

SEQ ID NO: 9 is the nucleic acid sequence of the phage genes of pSIM4, pSIM6 and pSIM8 plasmids.

SEQ ID NO: 10 is the amino acid sequence of cI857.

SEQ ID NO: 11 is the amino acid sequence of Gam.

SEQ ID NO: 12 is the amino acid sequence of Beta.

SEQ ID NO: 13 is the amino acid sequence of Exo.

SEQ ID NO: 14 is the amino acid sequence of the CAT drug cassette, used in pSIM2, pSIM5, pSIM7 and pSIM9.

SEQ ID NO: 15 is the amino acid sequence of the Amp drug cassette, used in pSIM4, pSIM46 and pSIM8.

SEQ ID NO: 16 is the amino acid sequence of Repts of pSIM5 and pSIM6.

SEQ ID NO: 17 is the amino acid sequence of the Orf of pSIM5 and pSIM6.

SEQ ID NO: 18 is the amino acid sequence of Rep of pSIM7 and pSIM8.

SEQ ID NO: 19 is the amino acid sequence of the replication gene TrfAts from pSIM9.

SEQ ID NO: 20 is the amino acid sequence of galK.

SEQ ID NO: 21 is the nucleic acid sequence encoding galK.

SEQ ID NO: 22 is the nucleic acid sequence of an oligonucleotide.

SEQ ID NO: 23 is the nucleic acid sequence of an oligonucleotide.

SEQ ID NO: 24 is the nucleic acid sequence encoding RexAB.

SEQ ID NO: 25 is the amino acid sequence of RexA.

SEQ ID NO: 26 is the amino acid sequence of RexB.

SEQ ID NO: 27 is the amino acid sequence of tetR.

SEQ ID NO: 28 is the amino acid sequence of tetA.

SEQ ID NO: 29 is the nucleic acid sequence encoding tetRA.

SEQ ID NO: 30 is the nucleic acid sequence encoding S.

SEQ ID NO: 31 is the amino acid sequence of S.

SEQ ID NO: 32 is the nucleic acid sequence of an oligonucleotide.

SEQ ID NO: 33 is the nucleic acid sequence of an oligonucleotide.

SEQ ID NO: 34 is the nucleic acid sequence of an oligonucleotide.

SEQ ID NO: 35 is the nucleic acid sequence of an oligonucleotide.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

I. Abbreviations

Amp: ampicillin

BAC: bacterial artificial chromosome

Bp: base pairs

Cat: chloramphenicol acetyl-transferase

Ini: initiation

λ: lambda

Ori: origin of replication

II. Terms

Unless otherwise noted, technical terms are used according to conventional usage. Definitions of common terms in molecular biology may be found in Benjamin Lewin, Genes V, published by Oxford University Press, 1994 (ISBN 0-19-854287-9); Kendrew et al. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Molecular Biology, published by Blackwell Science Ltd., 1994 (ISBN 0-632-02182-9); and Robert A. Meyers (ed.), Molecular Biology and Biotechnology: a Comprehensive Desk Reference, published by VCH Publishers, Inc., 1995 (ISBN 1-56081-569-8).

In order to facilitate review of the various embodiments of this disclosure, the following explanations of specific terms are provided:

Antibiotic resistance cassette: A nucleic acid sequence encoding a selectable marker which confers resistance to that antibiotic in a host cell in which the nucleic acid is translated. Examples of antibiotic resistance cassettes include, but are not limited to: kanamycin, ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, neomycin, hygromycin and zeocin.

Attachment site (att): A specific site for recombination that occurs on either a phage or a chromosome. An attachment site on lambda is termed “attP,” while an attachment site of a bacterial chromosome is “attB.” Integrase mediated recombination of an attP site with an attB site leads to integration of the λ prophage in the bacterial chromosome.

Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC): Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACS) have been constructed to allow the cloning of large DNA fragments in E. coli, as described in O'Conner et al., Science 244:1307-12, 1989; Shizuya et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89:8794-7, 1992; Hosoda et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 18:3863-9, 1990; and Ausubel et al., eds., Current Protocols In Molecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons (c) 1998 (hereinafter Ausubel et al., herein incorporated in its entirety). This system is capable of stably propagating mammalian DNA over 300 kb. In one embodiment, a BAC carries the F replication and partitioning systems that ensure low copy number and faithful segregation of plasmid DNA to daughter cells. Large genomic fragments can be cloned into F-type plasmids, making them of use in constructing genomic libraries.

Beta: The 28 kDa lambda Beta ssDNA binding polypeptide (and nucleic acid encoding lambda beta) involved in double-strand break repair homologous recombination. DNA encoding Beta (bet) and polypeptide chains having lambda Beta activity are also referred to herein as bet. See Examples 1 and 14 and references therein for further information. The lambda Beta protein binds to single-stranded DNA and promotes renaturation of complementary single-strand regions of DNA (see also Karakousis et al., J. Mol. Biol. 276:721-733, 1998; Li et al., J. Mol. Biol. 276:721-733, 1998; Passy et al., PNAS 96:4279-4284, 1999).

Functional fragments and variants of Beta include those variants that maintain their ability to bind to ssDNA and mediate the recombination function of lambda Beta as described herein, and in the publications referenced herein. It is recognized that the gene encoding Beta may be considerably mutated without materially altering the ssDNA binding function or homologous recombination function of lambda Beta. First, the genetic code is well-known to be degenerate, and thus different codons encode the same amino acids. Second, even where an amino acid mutation is introduced, the mutation may be conservative and have no material impact on the essential functions of lambda Beta. See Stryer, Biochemistry 3rd Ed., (c) 1988. Third, part of the lambda Beta polypeptide chain may be deleted without impairing or eliminating its ssDNA binding protein function, or its recombination function. Fourth, insertions or additions may be made in the lambda Beta polypeptide chain—for example, adding epitope tags—without impairing or eliminating its essential functions (see Ausubel et al., 1997, supra).

Biolistics: Insertion of DNA into cells using DNA-coated micro-projectiles. Also known as particle bombardment or microparticle bombardment. The approach is further described and defined in U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050, which is herein incorporated by reference.

cDNA (complementary DNA): A piece of DNA lacking internal, non-coding segments (introns) and regulatory sequences that determine transcription. cDNA may be synthesized in the laboratory by reverse transcription from messenger RNA extracted from cells.

Cro: A very small protein, the wild-type form of which includes 66 amino acids. The protein includes a single domain which contains a DNA-binding helix-turn-helix. The Cro protein binds the operator sites (O_(L) and O_(R)) of lambda. It interferes with the binding of cI, which is a repressor that also binds to the operator sites of lambda. Transcription of the Cro and cI is regulated by the cI protein. Specifically, in the absence of cI proteins, the Cro gene can be transcribed, while in the presence of cI proteins, only the cI gene is transcribed. At high concentrations of cI, transcriptions of both genes are repressed. Temperature sensitive mutations of cI have been described, such as cI857. In these temperature sensitive forms, the function of cI is inhibited at high temperatures (such as when the temperature is increased from 37° C. to 42° C.). The sequence and functions of Cro and cI are well known, and are described, for example, in Ptashne et al., A Genetic Switch, Third Edition, Phage Lambda Revisited, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference. The structure and sequence of lambda, including Cro and cI can also be found on the internet.

De-repressible promoter: When a repressor is bound to a de-repressible promoter, transcription is substantially decreased as compared to transcription from the de-repressible promoter in the absence of the repressor. By regulating the binding of the repressor, such as by changing the environment, the repressor is released from the de-repressible promoter and transcription increases.

One specific, non-limiting example of a de-repressible promoter is the P_(L) promoter, which is regulated by the repressor cI. P_(L) is not activated by an activator, and thus is not an inducible promoter. An “activatable promoter” is a promoter wherein binding of an activator to the promoter increases transcription from the promoter. The arabinose promoter, pBAD is not a simple de-repressible promoter; arabinose inactivates the repressor AraC and converts it to an activator. Thus, pBAD is an activatable promoter.

In one embodiment, the de-repressible promoter is a temperature sensitive de-repressible promoter. A temperature sensitive de-repressible promoter is a promoter that is de-repressed only at a specified temperature, or range of temperatures. In one embodiment, by increasing the temperature, the repressor is released from the promoter, or can no longer bind to the promoter with a high affinity, and transcription is increased from the promoter. One specific, non-limiting example is the induction of P_(L) promoter activity by increasing the temperature of the cell using cI87. Increased temperature inactivates the temperature-sensitive repressor cI, allowing genes that are operably linked to the P_(L) promoter to be expressed at increased levels. One of skill in the art can readily identify a de-repressible promoter.

In one embodiment, a de-repressible promoter is auto-regulated. One specific, non-limiting example of an auto-regulated de-repressible promoter is P_(L). If only one copy of a gene encoding cI is present, yet many copies of the P_(L) promoter are present, expression of cI is upregulated such that transcription is blocked from any of the P_(L) promoters.

Double-strand break repair recombination: A type of homologous recombination exemplified by the lambda recombination proteins Exo, Beta and Gam, and shared by numerous other recombinase systems. A double-strand break is the initiation point for concerted action of recombination proteins. Typically, an exonuclease degrades processively from the 5′ ends of these break sites, and ssDNA binding polypeptide binds to the remaining 3′ single-strand tail, protecting and preparing the recessed DNA for homologous strand invasion (Szostak et al., Cell 33:25-35, 1983; Little, J. Biol. Chem. 242:679-686, 1967; Carter et al., J. Biol. Chem. 246:2502-2512, 1971; Lindahl et al., Science 286:1897-1905, 1999). Examples of ssDNA binding polypeptides which bind to either ssDNA and/or dsDNA with 3′ overhangs and promote double-strand break repair recombination include lambda Beta, RecT of E. coli, Erf of phage p22, and Rad52 in various eukaryotic cells including yeast and mammalian cells.

Electrocompetent: Cells capable of macromolecular uptake upon treatment with electroporation.

Electroporation: A method of inducing or allowing a cell to take up macromolecules by applying electric fields to reversibly permeabilize the cell walls. Various methods and apparatuses used are further defined and described in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,695,547; 4,764,473; 4,946,793; 4,906,576; 4,923,814; and 4,849,089, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

Eukaryotic cell: A cell having an organized nucleus bounded by a nuclear membrane. These include lower organisms such as yeasts, slime molds, and the like, as well as cells from multicellular organisms such as invertebrates, vertebrates and mammals. They include a variety of tissue types, such as, but not limited to, endothelial cell, smooth muscle cell, epithelial cell, hepatocyte, cells of neural crest origin, tumor cell, hematopoietic cell, immunologic cell, T cell, B cell, monocyte, macrophage, dendritic cell, fibroblast, keratinocyte, neuronal cell, glial cell, adipocyte, myoblast, myocyte, chondroblast, chondrocyte, osteoblast, osteocyte, osteoclast, secretory cell, endocrine cell, oocyte, and spermatocyte. These cell types are described in standard histology texts, such as McCormack, Introduction to Histology, (c) 1984 by J.P. Lippincott Co.; Wheater et al., eds., Functional Histology, 2nd Ed., (c) 1987 by Churchill Livingstone; Fawcett et al., eds., Bloom and Fawcett: A Textbook of Histology, (c) 1984 by William and Wilkins, all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In one specific, non-limiting example, a eukaryotic cell is a stem cell, such as an embryonic stem cell.

Exo: The exonuclease of lambda (and the nucleic acid encoding the exonuclease protein) involved in double-strand break repair homologous recombination. See Example 1 and references therein for further description.

Exogenous: The term “exogenous” as used herein with reference to nucleic acid and a particular cell refers to any nucleic acid that does not originate from that particular cell as found in nature. Thus, a non-naturally-occurring nucleic acid is considered to be exogenous to a cell once introduced into the cell. Nucleic acid that is naturally occurring also can be exogenous to a particular cell. For example, an entire chromosome isolated from a cell of subject X is an exogenous nucleic acid with respect to a cell of subject Y once that chromosome is introduced into Y's cell.

Extrachromosomal: Not incorporated into the chromosome or chromosomes of a cell. In the context of nucleic acids, extrachromosomal indicates a DNA oligonucleotide that is not covalently incorporated into the chromosome or chromosomes of a cell. Intrachromosomal refers to material such as an oligonucleotide that is incorporated into the chromosome or chromosomes of a cell, such as a DNA oligonucleotide covalently incorporated into the chromosomal DNA of a cell.

Flanking: In the sequence “A-B-A”, nucleic acid sequence “A” flanks nucleic acid sequence “B.” In one specific, non-limiting example, nucleic acid sequence “A” is located immediately adjacent to nucleic acid “B.” In another specific, non-limiting example, an linker sequence of not more than 500 nucleotides is between each copy of “A” and “B,” such as a linker sequences of about 200, about 100, about 50, or about 10 nucleotides in length. Nucleotide sequences “A” and “B” can be of any length. “Adjacent” refers to a first nucleic acid sequence next to a second amino acid sequence. Thus, in the sequence A-B-C, A is 5′ to B and adjacent to B. However, A is 5′ to C but is not adjacent to C. B is 3′ of A and 5′ of C; B is adjacent to both A and C and is flanked by A and C.

Gam: A lambda protein (and nucleic acid encoding Gam) involved in double-strand break repair homologous recombination. It is believed to inhibit cellular nuclease activity such as that encoded by the recBCD and sbcC system of E. coli. See Examples 1, 7 and 14 and references therein for further description. Gam function, when expressed in the cell, is extremely toxic to the cell, and prevents growth. For this reason tight controls over its expression are always required. As described herein, P_(L) and cI 857 are able to regulate Gam expression.

Functional fragments and variants of Exo and Gam: As discussed for Beta (see “Functional Fragments And Variants Of Beta”), it is recognized that genes encoding Exo or Gam may be considerably mutated without materially altering their function, because of genetic code degeneracy, conservative amino acid substitutions, non-critical deletions or insertions, etc. Unless the context makes otherwise clear, the term lambda Exo, Exo or lambda exonuclease are all intended to include the native lambda exonuclease, and all fragments and variants of lambda exonuclease.

Gene: A nucleic acid encoding a protein product. In a specific non-limiting example, a gene includes at least one expression control sequence, such as a promoter, enhancer or a repressor. In another specific, non-limiting example, a gene includes at least one intron and at least one exon.

Homology arm: Nucleotides at or near 5′ or 3′ end of a polynucleotide which are identical or similar in sequence to the target nucleic acid in a cell, and capable of mediating homologous recombination with the target nucleic acid. Homology arms are also referred to as homologous arms. In one embodiment, a homology arm includes at least 20 bases of a sequence homologous to a nucleic acid of interest. In another embodiment, the homology arm includes at least 30 base pairs of a sequence homologous to a nucleic acid of interest. In yet another embodiment, a homology arm includes at least 40 base pairs of a sequence homologous to a nucleic acid of interest. In a further embodiment, a homology arm includes from about 50 to about 100 base pairs of a sequence homologous to a nucleic acid of interest.

Homologous recombination: An exchange of homologous polynucleotide segments anywhere along a length of two nucleic acid molecules. In one embodiment, two homologous sequences are 100% identical. In another embodiment, two homologous sequences are sufficiently identical such that they can undergo homologous recombination. Specific, non-limiting examples of homologous sequences are nucleic acid sequences that are at least 95% identical, such as about 99% identical, about 98% identical, about 97% identical, or about 96% identical.

Host cell: A cell that is used in lab techniques such as DNA cloning to receive exogenous nucleic acid molecules. In one embodiment a host cell is used to maintain or allow the reproduction of a vector, or to facilitate the manipulation of nucleic acid molecules in vitro. A host cell can be a prokaryotic or a eukaryotic cell. In one embodiment, a host cell is a gram negative bacterial cell. In another embodiment, a host cell is a gram positive host cell.

HVJ-mediated gene transfer: A method of macromolecular transfer into cells using inactivated hemagglutinating virus of Japan and liposomes, as described in Morishita et al., J. Clin. Invest. 91:2580-2585, 1993; Morishita et al., J. Clin. Invest. 94:978-984, 1994; which are herein incorporated by reference.

Inducible promoter: A promoter whose activity can be increased by the binding of an inducer to the promoter. Examples of inducible promoters abound in nature, and a broad range of environmental or hormonal changes may activate or repress them. One specific example of an inducible promoter is pBAD.

Initiation site or replication: The site on a nucleic acid sequence wherein of DNA replication occurs. For example, a bacterial origin of replication is the site on the bacterial DNA wherein DNA replication starts. For example, an initiation site can be a ColEl initiation site (Tomizawa et al., PNAS 74:1865-69, 1077) or an E. coli or B. subtilis oriC (see Seitz et al., EMBO Reports 2:1003-1006, 2001).

Intron: An intragenic nucleic acid sequence in eukaryotes that is not expressed in a mature RNA molecule. Introns of the present disclosure include full-length intron sequences, or a portion thereof, such as a part of a full-length intron sequence.

Isolated: An “isolated” biological component (such as a nucleic acid or protein) has been substantially separated or purified away from other biological components in the cell of the organism in which the component naturally occurs, i.e., other chromosomal and extra-chromosomal DNA and RNA, and proteins. Thus, nucleic acids and proteins that have been “isolated” include nucleic acids and proteins purified by standard purification methods. The term also embraces nucleic acids and proteins prepared by recombinant expression in a host cell as well as chemically synthesized nucleic acids.

Knockout: Inactivation of a gene such that a functional protein product cannot be produced. A conditional knockout is a gene that is inactivated under specific conditions, such as a gene that is inactivated in a tissue-specific or a temporal-specific pattern. A conditional knockout vector is a vector including a gene that can be inactivated under specific conditions. A conditional knockout transgenic animal is a transgenic animal including a gene that can be inactivated in a tissue-specific or a temporal-specific manner.

Linear plasmid vector: A DNA sequence (1) containing a bacterial plasmid origin of replication, (2) having a free 5′ and 3′ end, and (3) capable of circularizing and replicating as a bacterial plasmid by joining its free 5′ and 3′ ends. Examples of linear plasmid vectors include the linearized pBluescript vector and linearized pBR322 vectors described herein.

Linker region: DNA which connects flanking regions of a plasmid. The linker region can include multi-cloning sites which contain recognition sites for specific restriction endonucleases and transcriptional terminator-sequence. Linker regions can be ligated to the ends of DNA fragments prepared by cleavage with some other enzyme. A linker region can also have unique restriction endonuclease sites at the location of the start and stop codon to ligate the 5′ flanking region, as well as the 3′ flanking region to the nucleic acid of the linker. In particular, the linker region provides recognition sites, i.e., the “multicloning sites,” for inserting the nucleic acid cassette which contains a specific nucleic sequence to be expressed. These recognition sites may be a restriction endonuclease site in the linker, such as BamHI, EcoRI, HindIII, ClaI, NotI, XmaI, BglII, PacI, XhoI, NheI, SfiI, which are only examples and not meant to be limiting. The multicloning site permits easy insertion of expression nucleic acid elements such as promoters, nucleic acids encoding selectable markers or therapeutic genes, etc. For example, the multicloning site in pBluescript KS+ provides 17-23 unique restriction sites useful in inserting expression elements or previously constructed nucleic acid cassettes.

Lipofection: The process of macromolecular transfer into cells using liposomes. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,981, which is herein incorporated by reference.

Mini-lambda: A derivative of lambda (λ) wherein most of the viral lytic genes, including those required for replication and lysis, are deleted. A mini-lambda maintains the Red functions (Beta, Exo, and Gam) for homologous recombination and maintains the integration/excision functions (for example, att, integrase (int) and excisionase (xis)) to insert and excise its DNA from the chromosome.

Nucleic acid: A deoxyribonucleotide or ribonucleotide polymer in either single- or double-stranded form, including known analogs of natural nucleotides unless otherwise indicated.

Oligonucleotide (oligo): A single-stranded nucleic acid ranging in length from 2 to about 500 bases, for example, polynucleotides that contain at least 20 or 40 nucleotides (nt). Oligonucleotides are often synthetic but can also be produced from naturally occurring polynucleotides.

Operably linked: A first nucleic acid sequence is operably linked with a second nucleic acid sequence when the first nucleic acid sequence is placed in a functional relationship with the second nucleic acid sequence. For instance, a promoter is operably linked to a coding sequence if the promoter affects the transcription or expression of the coding sequence. Generally, operably linked DNA sequences are contiguous and, where necessary to join two protein-coding regions, in the same reading frame.

Operator site (O_(R) and O_(L)): A nucleic acid sequence found in lambda, repressor binding at these sites reduces transcription of N and Cro from P_(L) and P_(R), respectively. The right complete operator region (O_(R)) can be subdivided into three operators, O_(R)1, O_(R)2, and O_(R)3. Similarly, the left complete operator can also be subdivided into three operators. The repressor, cI, binds to both O_(R)1 and O_(R)2, and binding to O_(R)2 stimulates the transcription of the cI mRNA. The repressor, cI, binds to the three operator regions in the order of: cI binds most tightly to O_(R)1, next to O_(R)2, and lastly to O_(R)3. The binding of Cro and cI to this region differs in terms of the order of interaction; Cro binds most tightly to O_(R)3, next to O_(R)2, and lastly to O_(R)1. Similarly, Cro and cI bind to O_(L)1, O_(L)2, and O_(L)3 with different affinities.

Origin of replication (ori): A nucleotide sequence at which DNA synthesis for the purpose of replicating the nucleic acid sequence begins. This is generally termed an “ori” site. Circular bacterial chromosomes generally have a single ori site, whereas there are many ori sites on each eukaryotic chromosome. This term includes replicons, which as used herein refers to a genetic element that behaves as an autonomous unit during DNA replication. In bacteria, the chromosome functions as a single replicon, whereas eukaryotic chromosomes contain hundreds of replicons in series.

The ori site of plasmids can allow replication in one or more bacterial species, such as a gram negative or a gram positive species. For example, an ori can allow replication in one or more of E. Coli, Yersinia, or Salmonella. Specific, non-limiting examples of an ori are a ColEl origin and its derivatives, a pSC101 origin and its derivatives, a pBBR1 origin and its derivatives, and a RK2 origin and its derivatives. In one specific example, a ColEl origin of replication is described in Tomizawa et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (PNAS) 74:1865-69, 1977 (such as −420 to −613 base pairs (upstream) of the initiation site of ColEl replication).

A “conditional origin of replication” refers to an origin of replication that requires the presence of a functional transacting factor (e.g., a replication factor) in a prokaryotic host cell. Conditional origins of replication encompass temperature-sensitive replicons such as rep pSC101.

Operator sequence: A specific nucleic acid sequence capable of interacting with a specific repressor, thereby controlling the function of genes in adjacent cistrons and regulator genes. In general, a regulator gene is a gene whose primary function is to control the rate of synthesis of the products of other distant genes. The regulator gene controls the synthesis of a protein repressor, which inhibits the action of an operator gene and thus turns off the operon it controls. The repressor usually is present in small amounts. It may possess two sites, one of which can attach to the operator and one of which can bind an effector molecule. In one embodiment, once a repressor is bound to an effector molecule, the repressor changes shape and cannot attach to the operator. In another embodiment (such as for λ cI857) heat itself can inactivate or denature the intact repressor so that it does not attach to the operator. An operon is a unit of nucleic acid sequence consisting of one or more cistrons that function coordinately under the control of an operator sequence.

Thus, the repressor is a protein, synthesized by a regulator gene, that binds to an operator locus and blocks transcription of that operon. The repressor causes repression of transcription. When de-repressed, transcription and/or translation are increased.

Phage-based recombination systems: Bacteria such as E. coli encode their own homologous recombination systems, which are used in repair of DNA damage and to maintain a functional chromosome. The viruses or phages that inhabit bacteria often carry their own recombination functions. Phage λ carries the Red recombination system. These phage systems can work with the bacterial recombination functions or independently of them. It should be noted that a prophage is the latent state of a phage in a lysogenic bacterium. “Induction” is the process that converts a prophage into a phage.

P_(L) promoter: The major leftward promoter of bacteriophage lambda. Once the lambda DNA is incorporated into the bacterial chromosome, transcription from this promoter is substantially repressed by the cI repressor. Upon inactivation of the cI repressor, for example by heat shock of a temperature sensitive mutant, transcription from the P_(L) promoter is de-repressed, leading to expression of lambda genes. See Sambrook et al., “Bacteriophage Lambda Vectors,” Chapter 2 in Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., (c) 1989 (hereinafter Sambrook et al.); Stryer, “Control of Gene Expression in Procaryotes,” Chapter 32 in Biochemistry 3rd Ed., pp. 799-823, (c) 1988 (hereinafter Stryer); and Court and Oppenheim, pp. 251-277 in Hendrix et al. eds., Lambda II, Cold Spring Harbor Lab Press, (c) 1983 (hereinafter Court and Oppenheim).

P_(R) promoter: The major rightward promoter of bacteriophage lambda. Once the lambda DNA is incorporated into the bacterial chromosome, transcription from this promoter is substantially repressed by the cI repressor. Upon inactivation of the cI repressor, for example by heat shock of a temperature sensitive mutant, transcription from the P_(R) promoter is de-repressed, leading to expression of lambda genes. See Sambrook et al., “Bacteriophage Lambda Vectors,” Chapter 2 in Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., (c) 1989 (hereinafter Sambrook et al.); Stryer, “Control of Gene Expression in Procaryotes,” Chapter 32 in Biochemistry 3rd Ed., pp. 799-823, (c) 1988.

Plasmid: A plasmid is a construction of genetic material designed to direct transformation of a targeted cell. Plasmids include a construction of extrachromosomal genetic material, usually of a circular duplex of DNA which can replicate independently of chromosomal DNA. A plasmid generally contains multiple genetic elements positional and sequentially oriented with other necessary genetic elements such that the nucleic acid in a nucleic acid cassette can be transcribed and when necessary translated in the transfected cells. Plasmids include nucleic acids that are DNA derived from a plasmid vector, cosmids, or phagemids wherein one or more fragments of nucleic acid may be inserted or cloned which encode for particular genes of interest. The plasmid can have a linear or circular configuration.

Plasmids generally contain one or more unique restriction sites. In addition, a plasmid can confer some well-defined phenotype on the host organism which is either selectable or readily detected. Thus, the plasmid can include an expression cassette, wherein a polypeptide is encoded. Expression includes the efficient transcription of an inserted gene, nucleic acid sequence, or nucleic acid cassette with the plasmid. Expression products can be proteins, polypeptides or RNA.

In one embodiment, when a circular plasmid is transferred into a bacterial cell, it can be an autonomously replicating, extra-chromosomal DNA molecule, distinct from the normal bacterial genome and nonessential for bacterial cell survival under nonselective conditions. The term “persistent expression” as used herein refers to introduction of genes into the cell together with genetic elements which enable episomal (extra-chromosomal) replication and/or maintenance of the genetic material in the cell. This can lead to apparently stable transformation of the cell without the integration of the novel genetic material into the chromosome of the host cell.

A plasmid can also introduce genetic material into chromosomes of the targeted cell where it integrates and becomes a permanent component of the genetic material in that cell. Gene expression after stable introduction can permanently alter the characteristics of the cell and its progeny arising by replication leading to stable transformation.

Polynucleotide: A double-stranded or single-stranded nucleic acid sequence of any length. Therefore, a polynucleotide includes molecules which are 15, 50, 100, 200 nucleotides long (oligonucleotides) and also nucleotides as long as a full length cDNA.

Probes and primers: A nucleic acid probe comprises an isolated nucleic acid attached to a detectable label or reporter molecule. Typical labels include radioactive isotopes, ligands, chemiluminescent agents and enzymes. Methods for labeling and guidance in the choice of labels appropriate for various purposes are discussed, e.g., in Sambrook et al. (1989) and Ausubel et al. (1997).

Primers are short nucleic acids, preferably DNA oligonucleotides about fifteen nucleotides or more in length. Primers may be annealed to a complementary target DNA strand by nucleic acid hybridization to form a hybrid between the primer and the target DNA strand. The 3′ hydroxyl end of the primer may be then extended along the target DNA strand through the use of a DNA polymerase enzyme. Primer pairs (one on either side of the target nucleic acid sequence) can be used for amplification of a nucleic acid sequence, e.g., by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or other nucleic-acid amplification methods known in the art.

Methods for preparing and using probes and primers are described, for example, in Sambrook et al. (1989), Ausubel et al. (1987). PCR primer pairs can be derived from a known sequence, for example, by using computer programs intended for that purpose such as Primer (Version 0.5, © 1991, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Mass.). Under appropriate conditions, the specificity of a particular probe or primer increases with its length. Thus, in order to obtain greater specificity, probes and primers may be selected that comprise 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50 or more consecutive nucleotides of related cDNA or gene sequence.

Prokaryote: Cell or organism lacking a membrane-bound, structurally discrete nucleus and other subcellular compartments.

Prokaryotic transcription termination sequence: A nucleic acid sequence which is recognized by the RNA polymerase of a prokaryotic host cell and results in the termination of transcription. There are two types of terminators, one requires the Rho protein in combination with RNA polymerase at certain Rho-dependent sequences while the other is intrinsic and depends on sequence alone to stop polymerase. Prokaryotic intrinsic termination sequences commonly include a GC-rich region that has a twofold symmetry followed by an AT-rich sequence (Stryer, supra). A commonly used prokaryotic termination sequence is the rRNA operon termination sequence. A variety of termination sequences are known to the art and may be employed in nucleic acid constructs including the T_(INT), T_(L1), T_(L2), T_(L3), T_(R1), T_(R2), T_(6S) termination signals derived from the bacteriophage lambda, and termination signals derived from bacterial genes such as the trp gene of E. coli (see Stryer, supra).

Promoter: An array of nucleic acid control sequences which direct transcription of a nucleic acid. A promoter includes necessary nucleic acid sequences near the start site of transcription, such as in the case of a polymerase II type promoter, a TATA element. Enhancer and repressor elements can be located adjacent or distal to the promoter, and can be located as much as several thousand base pairs from the start site of transcription. Examples of promoters include, but are not limited to, the λ P_(L) and P_(R) promoters, the SV40 promoter, the CMV promoter, the β-actin promoter, and tissue-specific promoters. A hybrid promoter is a promoter that directs transcription of a nucleic acid in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. One specific, non-limiting example of a hybrid promoter is a PGK-EM7 promoter. Another specific, non-limiting example of a hybrid promoter is PGK-Tnf.

Recombinant nucleic acid molecule: A nucleic acid molecule which is comprised of segments of DNA joined together by means of molecular biological techniques, or that is produced from such a molecule, such as following replication of a plasmid. Strands of a DNA molecule are said to have 5′ ends and 3′ ends because mononucleotides are reacted to make oligonucleotides in a manner such that the 5′ phosphate of one mononucleotide pentose ring is attached to the 3′ oxygen of its neighbor in one direction via a phosphodiester linkage. In a duplex DNA molecule, each strand has a 5′ and a 3′ end. An end of an oligonucleotide referred to as the “5′ end” if its 5′ phosphate is not linked to the 3′ oxygen of a mononucleotide pentose ring and as the “3′ end” if its 3′ oxygen is not linked to a 5′ phosphate of a subsequent mononucleotide pentose ring. As used herein, a nucleic acid sequence, even if internal to a larger oligonucleotide, also may be said to have 5′ and 3′ ends. In either a linear or circular DNA molecule, discrete elements are referred to as being “upstream” or 5′ of the “downstream” or 3′ elements relative to a reference nucleic acid sequence of a fixed element in DNA that has a polarized direction in a single strand. This terminology reflects the fact that transcription proceeds by making RNA in a 5′ to 3′ fashion along one of the DNA strands (such as an unmethylated strand of DNA). The promoter and enhancer elements which direct transcription of a linked gene are generally located 5′ relative to a strand transcribed into RNA, or upstream of the coding region. However, enhancer elements can exert their effect even when located 3′ of the promoter element and the coding region. Transcription termination and polyadenylation signals are located 3′ or downstream of the coding region.

Regulatory element: A genetic element which controls some aspect of the expression of nucleic acid sequences. For example, a promoter is a regulatory element which facilitates the initiation of transcription of an operably linked coding region. Other regulatory elements are splicing signals, polyadenylation signals, termination signals, etc. Regulatory elements include “promoter” and “enhancer” elements. Promoters and enhancers consist of short arrays of DNA sequences that interact specifically with cellular proteins involved in transcription (Maniatis et al., Science 236:1237, 1987). Promoter and enhancer elements have been isolated from a variety of eukaryotic sources including genes in yeast, insect and mammalian cells and viruses (analogous control elements, i.e., promoters, are also found in prokaryotes). The selection of a particular promoter and enhancer depends on what cell type is to be used to express the protein of interest. Some eukaryotic promoters and enhancers have a broad host range while others are functional in a limited subset of cell types. A regulatory element can be “endogenous” or “heterologous.” An “endogenous” regulatory element is one which is naturally linked with a given gene in the genome. A “heterologous” regulatory element is one which is placed in juxtaposition to a gene by means of genetic manipulation; the regulatory element is not naturally found adjacent to a reference nucleic acid sequence, such as in a wild-type organism.

Restriction endonucleases and restriction enzymes: Bacterial enzymes, each of which cut double-stranded DNA at or near a specific nucleotide sequence. A “restriction site” is a deoxyribonucleic acid sequence at which one or more specific restriction endonucleases cleave the molecule.

Selectable marker: A nucleic acid (or a protein encoded by the nucleic acid) which can be used to identify a cell, such as a host cell, of interest. Selectable markers include but are not limited to: (1) nucleic acid segments that encode products which provide resistance against otherwise toxic compounds (e.g., antibiotics); (2) nucleic acid segments that encode products which are otherwise lacking in the recipient cell (e.g., tRNA genes, auxotrophic markers); (3) nucleic acids that encode products which suppress the activity of a gene product; (4) nucleic acids that encode products which can be readily identified (such as phenotypic markers such as β-galactosidase, green fluorescent protein (GFP), and cell surface proteins); (5) nucleic acids that bind products which are otherwise detrimental to cell survival and/or function; (6) nucleic acids that otherwise inhibit the activity of any of the nucleic acids described in Nos. 1-5 above (e.g., antisense oligonucleotides); (7) nucleic acids that bind products that modify a substrate (e.g. restriction endonucleases); (8) nucleic acids that can be used to isolate a desired molecule (e.g. specific protein binding sites); (9) a specific nucleotide sequence which can be otherwise non-functional (e.g., for PCR amplification of subpopulations of molecules); and/or (10) DNA segments, which when absent, directly or indirectly confer sensitivity to particular compounds.

In one example, the nucleic acid encodes an enzymatic activity that confers the ability to grow in medium lacking what would otherwise be an essential nutrient (e.g., the TRP1 gene in yeast cells). In another example, a selectable marker can confer resistance (or sensitivity) to an antibiotic or drug upon the cell in which the selectable marker is expressed. In a further example, the selectable marker can also be used to confer a particular phenotype upon a host cell.

When a host cell must express a selectable marker to grow in selective medium, the marker is said to be a positive selectable marker (e.g., antibiotic resistance genes which confer the ability to grow in the presence of the appropriate antibiotic). Selectable markers can also be used to select against host cells containing a particular gene (e.g., the sacB gene which, if expressed, kills the bacterial host cells grown in medium containing 5% sucrose); selectable markers used in this manner are referred to as negative selectable markers or counter-selectable markers.

Sequence identity: The relatedness between two nucleic acid sequences, or two amino acid sequences is expressed in terms of the similarity between the sequences, otherwise referred to as sequence identity or homology. Sequence identity is frequently measured in terms of percentage identity (or similarity or homology); the higher the percentage, the more similar/homologous are the two sequences.

Methods of alignment of sequences for comparison are well-known in the art. Various programs and alignment algorithms are described in: Smith and Waterman, Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482, 1981; Needleman and Wunsch, J. Mol. Bio. 48:443, 1970; Pearson and Lipman, Methods in Molec. Biology 24:307-331, 1988; Higgins and Sharp, Gene 73:237-244, 1988; Higgins and Sharp, CABIOS 5:151-153, 1989; Corpet et al., Nucleic Acids Research 16:10881-90, 1988; Huang et al., Computer Applications in BioSciences 8:155-65,1992; and Pearson et al., Methods in Molecular Biology 24:307-31,1994. Altschul et al. (Nature Genet., 6:119-29, 1994) presents a detailed consideration of sequence alignment methods and homology calculations.

The NCBI Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) (Altschul et al., J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410, 1990) is available from several sources, including the National Center for Biological Information (NBCI, Bethesda, Md.) and on the internet, for use in connection with the sequence analysis programs blastp, blastn, blastx, tblastn and tblastx. It can be accessed at the NCBI website, together with a description of how to determine sequence relatedness using this program.

Homologs of lambda Beta, Exo and Gam, and ssDNA binding proteins (such as the Herpes simplex virus single-stranded binding protein) typically possess at least some (for example, at least 60%) sequence identity counted over limited or full-length alignment with the amino acid sequence of the protein being evaluated (that is, lambda Beta, Exo or Gam, or other ssDNA binding protein). Homologs of other proteins, such as P22 Erf, RecT, and Rad52, or the Herpes virus single ICP8 stranded binding protein and UL12 exonuclease can also be identified. Homologs of a protein can be identified, for example, using the NCBI Blast 2.0, gapped blastp set to default parameters. For comparisons of amino acid sequences of greater than about 30 amino acids, the Blast 2 sequences function is employed using the default BLOSUM62 matrix set to default parameters, (gap existence cost of 11, and a per residue gap cost of 1). When aligning short peptides (fewer than around 30 amino acids), the alignment should be performed using the Blast 2 sequences function, employing the PAM30 matrix set to default parameters (open gap 9, extension gap 1 penalties). Proteins with even greater similarity to the reference sequence will show increasing percentage identities when assessed by this method, such as at least 70%, at least 75%, at least 80%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 98%, or at least 99% sequence identity. When less than the entire sequence is being compared for sequence relatedness, homologs will typically possess at least 75% sequence identity over short windows of 10-20 amino acids, and may possess sequence identities of at least 85% or at least 90% or 95% depending on their similarity to the reference sequence. Methods for determining sequence identity over such short windows are described at the NCBI website

One of skill in the art will appreciate that these sequence identity ranges are provided for guidance only; it is entirely possible that strongly significant homologs or other variants could be obtained that fall outside of the ranges provided.

Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA): ssDNA is DNA in a single polynucleotide chain; the DNA bases are not involved in Watson-Crick base pairing with another polynucleotide chain. dsDNA involves two or more complementary polynucleotide chains, in which the two polynucleotide chains are at least partially Watson-Crick base-paired to each other. Note that a segment of DNA may be partially ssDNA and partially dsDNA, for example if there are gaps in one polynucleotide chain of a segment of dsDNA, or there are 5′ or 3′ overhangs. ssDNA and dsDNA may contain nucleotide analogs, non-naturally occurring or synthetic nucleotides, biotin, or epitope or fluorescent tags. ssDNA or dsDNA may be labeled; typical labels include radioactive isotopes, ligands, chemiluminescent agents and enzymes.

Suppressor of nonsense mutations: Nonsense mutations are examples of conditional mutations—in a strain lacking a nonsense suppressor (suppressor minus or sup^(o)), the mutation causes premature termination of protein synthesis, but in a strain with an appropriate nonsense suppressor (sup), functional protein can be made. If a phage vector contains nonsense mutations in a gene essential for lysis, it will only be able to reproduce in a bacterial host with an appropriate nonsense suppressor.

One type of a nonsense mutation is an amber mutation. An amber suppressor inserts an amino acid at only an amber (UAG) codon. A supB or supC suppressor inserts an amino acid at UAA and UAG codons. Another type of nonsense mutation is an ochre mutation. In one example, if a phage mutant with an amber mutation at position #50 of an essential gene infects a sup^(o) host, no functional protein will be made and the phage will not reproduce. If the phage infects a supD host (which includes a tRNA that recognizes the amber codon and inserts a serine), a serine will be inserted at position #50 of the protein; if the phage infects a supE host, a glutamine will be inserted at position #50 of the protein; if the phage infects a supF host, a tyrosine will be inserted at position #50 of the protein; and so on. If the amino acid inserted at this position results in a misfolded, truncated, or otherwise nonfunctional protein, the phage will not reproduce on the suppressor containing host. However, if the amino acid inserted at this site yields a functional protein, the phage will reproduce. A number of suppressors are known:

original suppressor codon name anticodon anticodon suppressed amino-acid inserted supB UUG UUA UAA, UAG Gln supC GUA UUA UAA, UAG Tyr supD CGA CUA UAG Ser supE CUG CUA UAG Gln supF GUA CUA UAG Tyr supG UUU UUA UAA, UAG Lys supM UAA, UAG Tyr supN UAA, UAG Lys supO UAA, UAG Tyr supP UAG Leu supU CCA UCA UGA Trp

Transcriptional terminator element: A nucleotide sequence that functions to stop transcription of an RNA polymerase without additional factors is an intrinsic terminator. This intrinsic sequence can be located within the linker region, or after a nucleic acid encoding Bet, Gam or Exo, but can be located at other sites in the plasmid. These sequences ensure transcription of the nucleic acid sequence does not read through into other functional regions of the plasmid. The term “transcription” or “transcribe” refers to the process by which RNA molecules are formed upon DNA templates by complementary base pairing. This process is mediated by RNA polymerase. In one embodiment, the terminators are derived from E. coli rrnB operon. Additional terminators include the λ terminators in the P_(L) and P_(R) operon, such as T_(L3), T_(L4) and T_(L2).

Transformation, Transduction and Transfection: The introduction of foreign DNA into prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells. Transformation of prokaryotic cells may be accomplished by a variety of means known to the art including the treatment of host cells with CaCl₂ to make competent cells, electroporation, etc. Transfection of eukaryotic cells can be accomplished by a variety of means known to the art including calcium phosphate-DNA co-precipitation, DEAE-dextran-mediated transfection, polybrene-mediated transfection, electroporation, microinjection, liposome fusion, lipofection, protoplast fusion, retroviral infection and biolistics.

Upstream: Refers to nucleic acid sequences that precede the codons that are transcribed into an RNA of interest, or to a nucleic acid sequences 5′ of a nucleic acid of interest. Similarly, “downstream” refers to nucleic acid sequences that follow codons that are transcribed into a RNA of interest, or to nucleic acid sequences 3′ of a nucleic acid of interest.

Vector: Nucleic acid molecules that transfer DNA segment(s) from one cell to another. A “vector” is a type of “nucleic acid construct.” The term “nucleic acid construct” includes circular nucleic acid constructs such as plasmid constructs, cosmid vectors, etc. as well as linear nucleic acid constructs (e.g., λ phage constructs, PCR products). The nucleic acid construct may include expression signals such as a promoter and/or an enhancer (in such a case, it is referred to as an expression vector). An “expression vector” is a recombinant DNA molecule containing a desired coding sequence and appropriate nucleic acid sequences necessary for the expression of the operably linked coding sequence in a particular host organism. Nucleic acid sequences necessary for expression in prokaryotes usually include a promoter and can also include an operator. Eukaryotic cells are known to utilize promoters, enhancers, and termination and polyadenylation signals.

Unless otherwise explained, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The singular terms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless context clearly indicates otherwise. Similarly, the word “or” is intended to include “and” unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It is further to be understood that all base sizes or amino acid sizes, and all molecular weight or molecular mass values, given for nucleic acids or polypeptides are approximate, and are provided for description. Although methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of this disclosure, suitable methods and materials are described below. The term “comprises” means “includes.” All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In case of conflict, the present specification, including explanations of terms, will control. In addition, the materials, methods and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

There exists a need in the art for methods of precisely and efficiently altering predetermined endogenous genetic sequences by homologous recombination in vivo, in a variety of gram negative bacterial cells. Plasmids, phages and methods are disclosed herein for cloning DNA molecules in gram negative bacterial cells using homologous recombination mediated by lambda recombinases.

Recombineering

FIG. 1A depicts a classical genetic engineering protocol to modify a target on a BAC clone with a cassette and compares the classical technology with the recombineering technology disclosed herein that uses special phage recombination functions. In general, there are many steps required for classical engineering, and the final product cannot be engineered as precisely as by the new recombineering technology. An advance in the recombineering methodology is the use of phage recombination functions that generate recombination products using homologies of 50 bases (or less). Note that the target homologies in FIGS. 1A and 1B are represented by the striped boxes. In the method outlined in FIG. 1A, those boxes must be at least 500 base pairs long, whereas in the method outlined in FIG. 1B, they can be about 40 to about 50 base pairs long. In several examples, the homologies are about 30 to 100 bases long, or from about 40 to about 100 bases in length.

One method of recombineering involves transforming a gram negative bacterial cell of interest (such as, but not limited to, an E. coli cell) with a plasmid including an origin of replication, and a lambda genome having DNA encoding functional Beta and optionally Exo, and Gam, or functional fragments or variants thereof, operably linked to the a de-repressible promoter (such as, but not limited to, the P_(L) promoter). De-repression of the de-repressible promoter (for example, the induction of transcription from the P_(L) promoter by inactivation of cI) induces expression of Exo, Bet and Gam. In some embodiments de-repression may be selectively activated for this purpose. Another method of recombineering involves the introduction of a phage or a phage including the P_(L) promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding Beta, and optionally Exo and Gam, or functional fragments or variants thereof.

In recombineering, a polynucleotide which is homologous to a target DNA sequence (capable of undergoing homologous recombination with the target DNA sequence) is introduced into the cell. Cells in which homologous recombination has occurred are either selected or found by direct screening of cells. In particular embodiments, the nucleic acid introduced into the cell may be single-stranded DNA, double-stranded DNA, or DNA with 5′ overhangs. These methods are disclosed, for example, in PCT Publication No. WO 02/14495 A2 and in U.S. Pat. Publication No. US-2003-0224521-A1 (both of which incorporated by reference herein in their entirety).

Briefly, the recombineering methodology utilizes recombination functions (such as phage recombination functions) under control of a de-repressible promoter to generate recombination products using homologies of at least 20 base pairs. Thus, in one embodiment, recombineering uses a cell including Beta under the control of a de-repressible promoter. In a specific, non-limiting example, expression of Beta alone (without Exo and Gam) is under the control of the de-repressible promoter (e.g. the nucleic acid encoding Beta is operably linked to the de-repressible promoter). In another embodiment, expression of Beta, in addition to Gam and/or Exo, is under the control of the de-repressible promoter. In further embodiments, the gene encoding ICP8, RecT, P22 Erf, or Rad52 is operably linked to a de-repressible promoter. In yet another embodiment, DNA bound to a Beta protein is introduced into a host cell.

In recombineering, phage recombination functions can be used to introduce recombination into a target nucleic acid sequence in a host cell. The host cell can be prokaryotic. In specific non-limiting examples, the host cell is any gram negative bacterial cell, including, but not limited to, E. coli or S. typhimurium. The target can be on the chromosome, or can be on an extra-chromosomal element. In several specific, non-limiting examples, the target nucleic acid can be included in a plasmid, a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), a yeast artificial chromosome, a cosmid or a vector, including but not limited to a viral vector. In one specific non-limiting example, recombination is induced in a BAC strain or a BAC DNA is introduced into strain carrying recombination functions.

The length of the homologous sequence can be varied. In several embodiments, the homology is at least 20, at least 25, at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, at least 75 or at least 100 nucleotides in length. However, larger regions of homology can also be utilized. Thus, in one embodiment, between about 20 and about 1,000 nucleotides of homologous sequence is utilized, between about 30 and about 1,000 nucleotides of homologous sequence is utilized. In one specific, non-limiting example, the ssDNA is about 20, about 25, about 30, about 40, about 50, about 75 or about 100 nucleotides in length. In one embodiment, the homologous nucleic acid is a single-stranded nucleic acid. In another embodiment, the homologous nucleic acid is a double-stranded nucleic acid. Double-stranded nucleic acids include molecules that are completely double-stranded, as well as nucleic acid molecules that have a 5′ or a 3′ overhang.

A single-stranded nucleic acid or double-stranded nucleic acid including sufficient homology to the target sequence is introduced into the host cell. “Sufficient homology” is any region of sufficient identity to the target sequence such that recombination can occur. In several embodiments, sufficient homology includes a sequence of at least 20 nucleotides in length, wherein at most five, at most three, at most two, at most one nucleotide, or no nucleotides differ from the target nucleic acid sequence. In additional embodiments, sufficient homology includes a sequence of at least 25 nucleotides in length, wherein at most five, at most three, at most two, at most one nucleotide, or no nucleotides differ from the target nucleic acid sequence. Similarly, sufficient homology can readily be determined for a nucleic acid of at least 30, at least 40, at least 50, or at least 100 nucleotides in length.

If the single-stranded nucleic acid or double-stranded nucleic acid differs from the target nucleic acid, these differences can be clustered (i.e. at one area in the target nucleic acid) or can be scattered in the sequences (for example two nucleotide differences from the target sequence, wherein each difference is located at different areas in the sequence). In another embodiment, sufficient homology includes about a 100%, 99%, 98%, or 97% sequence identity between the homolgous nucleic acid (e.g., the single-stranded or the double-stranded nucleic acid) and the target nucleic acid sequence. In another specific, non-limiting example, sufficient homology includes at least 90% sequence identity between the single-stranded or double-stranded nucleic acid and the target nucleic acid, such as nucleic acid sequences that are at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, or at least 99% identical. It should be noted that a homologous nucleic acid sequence can differ from a target nucleic acid by substitutions, deletions and/or additions of nucleotides. In another embodiment, the single-stranded nucleic acid (or double-stranded nucleic acid) is labeled, such as with a biotinylated nucleotide, a methylated nucleotide, or a DNA adduct.

The homologous nucleic acid (e.g., the single-stranded nucleic acid or double-stranded nucleic acid) can be introduced into the host cell by any means known to one of skill in the art. In one embodiment, the host cell is deficient in mismatch repair, such as a cell that can repair mismatched nucleotides at a reduced frequency as compared to a wild-type cell (such as at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, or 99% reduction in mismatch repair). In one specific, non-limiting example, mismatch repair is reduced at least 90% as compared to a wild-type cell. A host cell deficient for mismatch repair can include a mutation in a nucleic acid sequence encoding a protein involved in mismatch repair, such that the protein has reduced function (or its function is eliminated). In several embodiments, the function of one or more mismatch repair proteins is decreased at least 80%, such as at least 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or is completely absent in the host cell deficient for mismatch repair as compared to a wild-type cell. In this context, a wild-type cell is a cell of the same species that does not include a mutation in the gene encoding the protein involved in mismatch repair.

In one embodiment, mismatch repair can be constitutively reduced in the host cell. Thus, if the cell is a prokaryotic cell, a cell that is deficient for mismatch repair can have a mutation in one or more nucleic acids encoding mutS, mutH, mutL, uvrD, or dam. The mutS, mutH, mutL, uvrD, or dam protein produced from the mutated gene has a substantially reduced (or no) function in mismatch repair. Thus, a corresponding wild-type cell does not have a mutation in the nucleic acid encoding MutS, MutH, MutL, uvrD, or dam, respectively. A cell deficient for mismatch repair can also have more than one mutation or the nucleic acid encoding MutS, MutH, MutL, uvrD, or dam, or can have mutations in more than one of these genes. The mutation can be an insertion, deletion, or a point mutation. Thus, in several specific, non-limiting examples, a prokaryotic cell deficient for mismatch repair has a mutation in a nucleic acid encoding MutS (mutS-, or ΔmutS), MutH (mutH- or ΔmutH), MutL (mutL- or ΔmutL), UvrD (uvrD- or ΔuvrD), or Dam (dam- or Δdam), or a combination (e.g. mutS-mutH-(ΔmutSΔmutH), mutS-mutL-(ΔmutSΔmutL), mutH-mutL-(ΔmutHΔmutL), mutH-uvrD-(ΔmutHΔuvrD), etc.).

The homologous nucleic acid (e.g. the single-stranded nucleic acid or double-stranded nucleic acid) is introduced into the host cell, the de-repressible promoter is de-repressed, and recombinants are generated in vivo. Thus, in one specific, non-limiting example, if the de-repressible promoter is P_(L), and the repressor is cI857, the host cell is treated with heat to induce the expression of Beta (see Copeland et al., Nature Reviews 2:769, 2001, and Ellis et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 98:6742-6746, 2001, which are herein incorporated by reference), and optionally Exo and Gam. Generally, the homologous nucleic acid, whether it is a single-stranded nucleic acid or a double-stranded nucleic acid, differs from the target nucleic acid by at least one nucleotide, but is sufficiently homologous to undergo recombination with the target sequence (see above).

Recombinants can be detected by any means known to one of skill in the art. If recombination has occurred in a nucleic acid encoding a marker, such as a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide involved in antibiotic resistance, detection can be performed by drug selection. However, detection can also be performed by direct screening (e.g. colony hybridization or sequencing). Detection can also be performed by detecting a label on the nucleic acid (e.g. when DNA includes a DNA adduct or a marker such as biotin).

As has been described (see PCT Publication No. WO 02/14495 A2, herein incorporated by reference), a single base change has been substituted in the galK gene and a 3.3 kbp insertion removed from the galK gene using single-stranded oligos. Single-stranded oligos have also been used to precisely remove five different Tn10 insertions at different places on the E. coli chromosome. Whereas Exo, Beta, and Gam facilitate recombination of PCR amplified dsDNA cassettes with flanking homologies, only Beta is required for ssDNA recombination.

Plasmids Conferring Recombineering Functions to Bacterial Host Cells

Disclosed herein are plasmids that can be used to confer recombineering functions to cells, such as prokaryotic cells. These plasmids can be used to confer recombineering functions to a variety of strains of E. coli. In addition, disclosed herein are plasmids that can be used to confer recombineering functions to other bacteria, including Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Cyanobacteria, and Spirochaetes, amongst others. These mobilizable plasmids can be manipulated in vitro and can be used to transform gram negative bacteria. These plasmids include an origin of replication specific for the bacterial cell(s) of interest, a de-repressible promoter, and a nucleic acid encoding a single-stranded binding protein such as Beta. In additional embodiments, the plasmids include a nucleic acid encoding Exo and/or Gam. In one example, the plasmid includes an origin of replication and a lambda genome having DNA encoding functional Beta and optionally Exo, and Gam, or functional fragments or variants thereof, operably linked to the de-repressible promoter (such as, but not limited to, the P_(L) promoter). In one embodiment, the plasmid is circular, but it can be linearized for some uses. The plasmid can optionally include a selectable marker, such as a drug-resistant cassette (for example, encoding chloramphenicol resistance or ampicillin resistance).

For ease in review, the discussion below refers to the Red recombineering system, which utilizes the single-stranded binding protein Beta, and optionally Gam and Exo. However, one of skill in the art can construct and use the plasmid systems with other single-stranded binding proteins, such as E. coli RecT, Erf of bacteriophage P22, Rad52 of yeast, or ICT8 of Herpes simplex virus.

Generally, the plasmid includes an ori site that allows replication in bacterial host cells, such as gram negative bacterial cells and/or gram positive bacterial cells. The gram negative bacterial cells can be E. coli bacterial cells. However, the ori site can be selected to allow replication in other bacterial gram negative cells. These gram negative cells include, but are not limited to, Enterobacteriaceae (such as Escherichia, Shigella, Salmonella, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis). Thus, nucleic acids encoding recombineering proteins can also be transferred to Pseudomonas, Acetobacter, Alcaligenes, Bacteroides Amoebobacter, Chromatium, Lamprobacter, Lamprocystis, Thiocapsa, Thiocystis, Thiodictyon, Thiopedia and Thiospirillum, Legionella, Neisseria, Nitrobacter, Nitrospina, Nitrococcus, Nitrosipra, Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, Zoogloea and Fraturia, Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Azorhizobium, Sinorhizobium Rochalimaea, Ehrlichia, Cowdria, Rickettsia Neorickettsia Spirochaetaceae, Vibrio, Aeromonas, Plesiomonas and Photobacterium host cells.

The origin of replication can be from any plasmid of interest, and thus can function in gram negative and/or gram positive cells, and/or eurkaryotes. In one embodiment, the origin of replication (such as the ori from plasmid pMB1) functions in a broad host range of gram negative bacterial cells, such as pBBR1, pRK2 or IncQ. However, in other embodiments, the origin of replication can confer the ability to replicate in a more limited number of bacterial cells. A conditional origin of replication can also be utilized. Conditional origins of replication are also known to one of skill in the art. Generally, conditional origins of replication are tight down-regulated in the selected host cells in the absence of a compatible inducing agent, and are strongly induced in the presence of the inducing agent. The conditional ori, when provided in combination with the compatible inducing agent, should have sufficient activity to amplify the vector within the host cells. One exemplary conditional ori is oriV, GENBANK™ No. L 13843, although the conditional ori could be any ori that functions in the host cell and is normally inactive until exposed to the replication-inducing agent. Additional conditional origins of replication of use are found on plasmids commonly used, such as pBBR1 and pSC101. Suitable origins of replication are from the plasmids pSC101, pBBR, pBR322, pUC5, pUC8, pBBR1, RK2, P1, F, amongst others. In addition to the ori, the plasmid can include additional plasmid sequences, such as Orf or rep γ that can activate replication. Exemplary nucleic acid sequences of Orf and rep γ are shown in FIGS. 4, 9 and 10. In one embodiment a plasmid can replicate at 32° C. but not at 37° C.

The plasmids include a de-repressible promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a single-stranded binding protein such as Beta. Optionally, the de-repressible promoter also is operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding Gam and/or Exo. In one specific, non-limiting example, the de-repressible promoter is P_(L). The plasmid can also include one or more of P_(R), O_(L), and O_(R). In one example, the plasmid includes, P_(L) O_(L), and P_(R) O_(R), in the same sequence and orientation as found in phage lambda (λ).

A terminator can be included, such that transcription is terminated following transcription of bet. If nucleic acids encoding Exo and Gam are included in the plasmid, the terminator can be included 3′ of these nucleic acid sequences. Terminators are well known in the art, and include, but are not limited to, T_(L3) of phage λ. Other terminators of use include the T_(INT), T_(L1), T_(L2), T_(R1), T_(R2), T_(6S), T_(OOP) termination signals derived from the bacteriophage lambda, and termination signals derived from bacterial genes such as the TrpT for the trp gene of E. coli. These terminators prevent the plasmid origin from being transcribed by the P_(L) promoter. Thus, in one example, P_(L) is operably linked to nucleic acid sequences encoding Gam, Bet, and Exo, and a terminator, such as T_(L3), is included 3′ of Gam.

Generally, the plasmid encodes a repressor such as cI that binds P_(L). In one embodiment, the repressor is temperature sensitive, such as cI857. In some particular examples, the disclosed plasmids include an inducible promoter upstream of the cI85 7 gene. The cI gene can also include an ind1 mutation to prevent spontaneous induction at low temperatures.

Optionally, the plasmid can also include a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker. For example, a nucleic acid can be included that encodes an enzymatic activity that confers the ability to grow in medium lacking what would otherwise be an essential nutrient (e.g., the TRP1 gene in yeast cells), or that confers resistance (or sensitivity) to an antibiotic or drug upon the cell in which the selectable marker is expressed. Exemplary markers confer resistance to ampicillin (amp), neomycin (neo), or chloramphenicol (cat). A negative selective marker can also be utilized, such as a nucleic acid encoding the sacB gene (which, if expressed, kills the bacterial host cells grown in medium containing 5% sucrose). In yet another example, a marker is utilized, such as a nucleic acid sequence that encodes an antigenic epitope; cells that express the antigenic epitope can be screened and identified by the binding of an antibody.

In one embodiment, the plasmid includes the following components in 5′ to 3′ order: a nucleic acid sequence for an origin of replication; a nucleic acid encoding a promoter operably linked to nucleic acid sequence a repressor that specifically binds an operator for a de-repressible promoter, such as the P_(R) promoter; a nucleic acid sequence encoding a selectable marker; a de-repressible promoter that is repressed by the repressor, such as P_(L) promoter of lambda phage, operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding lambda Beta and a terminator. Transformation of a bacterial cell with the plasmid allows homologous recombination to occur in the bacterial cell. In another embodiment, the plasmid also includes a nucleic acid encoding an exonuclease operably linked to the de-repressible promoter. For example, the plasmid can include lambda Exo operably linked to the P_(L) promoter. The plasmid can also include a nucleic acid encoding Gam operably linked to the de-repressible promoter, such as P_(L) promoter. It should be noted that the plasmid can include RecE and RecT operably linked to a de-repressible promoter. The plasmid can further include other regulatory elements, such as P_(R) and O_(R) 5′ of the nucleic acid encoding the selectable marker. Thus, in an additional embodiment, the plasmid comprises O_(L) 3′ of the P_(L) promoter.

In one embodiment, the plasmid includes an origin of replication, a nucleic acid encoding a promoter operably linked to a repressor, such as cI, a nucleic acid encoding a plasmid operably linked to the promoter, or to a second promoter, and a nucleic acid encoding Beta operably linked to the first or the second promoter, or to a third promoter. A nucleic acid encoding Exo and/or Gam can be linked to the first, second or third promoter. The plasmid does not encode a functional N protein. Exemplary plasmids are pSIM2, pSIM4, pSIM6, pSIM5, pSIM7, pSIM8 and pSIM9. Schematic diagrams of these plasmids, their nucleic acid sequence, and the amino acid sequence of the encoded proteins are shown in FIGS. 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.

In another embodiment, the plasmid includes an origin of replication and a lambda genome, wherein the lambda genome comprises, in 5′ to 3′ order (1) a repressor that binds the P_(R) promoter; (2) O_(R); (3) a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous nucleic acid sequence; (4) P_(L); (5) O_(L); (6) a nucleic acid encoding Beta. In one example, the plasmid includes an origin of replication and a lambda genome. As noted above, the origin of replication can be any origin of replication that allows replication of the plasmid in the cell of interest.

The plasmid can also include a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker. The lambda nucleic acid sequence can include a heterologous nucleic acid that encodes a selectable marker. Selectable markers of use are known to one of skill in the art, and are briefly described above. In one embodiment, the selectable marker is included within the rexA of lambda. In another embodiment, the selectable marker is included along with rexA and rexB in the lambda nucleic acid sequence.

The lambda can include the phage immunity region and both the O_(L) and O_(R) operators and the main leftward operon under control of the P_(L) promoter, but does not include the major rightward operon encoding the DNA replication genes, the lysis genes and the phage structural genes. Operationally, this means that following prophage induction, the prophage chromosome cannot excise and the cells will not lyse, nor will phage particles be produced.

In yet another embodiment, the lambda nucleic acid includes an N-kil deletion. In one specific, non-limiting example, the lambda genome does not encode a functional N (anti-terminator) protein. In another specific example, the lambda genome includes an N-kil deletion (see FIG. 1) such that the lambda does not encode a functional N protein, and such that the transcription terminators included in this region between P_(L) and gam are removed. The N-kil deletion leaves intact the Gam gene whose AUG begins at position 33112 on the lambda DNA sequence and deletes a longer form of the gam gene that has been previous described (Court and Oppenheim, pp. 251-277 in Hendrix et al. eds., Lambda II, Cold Spring Harbor Lab Press, (c) 1983, which is incorporated herein by reference). Deletion of the kil gene removes a function that kills bacterial cells, such as E. coli, when expressed.

Thus, the lambda genome can include, in 5′ to 3′ order, a repressor that binds the P_(R) promoter at O_(R) and a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous nucleic acid sequence, P_(L), O_(L), a nucleic acid encoding Bet. The lambda genome can include an N-kil deletion to remove the genes N through kil. Optionally, additional sequences are included, such as rep γ or Orf nucleic acid sequences. Nucleic acid sequences encoding Exo and/or Gam can also be included.

A defective λ can be utilized that encodes Red with an intact cI repression system with various plasmid origins (FIG. 16). In this prophage, most of the nonessential region of the P_(L) operon has been removed, including the toxic kil gene, transcription terminators, and the anti-termination gene N (FIG. 16A). Other genes are also deleted, such as sieB, ral, ssb and cIII. The rex genes downstream of the cI repressor gene have been replaced by drug cassettes allowing selection for either chloramphenicol (cat) or ampicillin (amp). The P_(L) promoter on these constructs is still regulated by the temperature sensitive cI857 repressor, with O_(L) and O_(R) operators present to ensure the tightest control (Dodd et al., Genes Dev. 15(22):3013-22, 2001; Dodd et al., Genes Dev. 18(3):344-54, 2004). In this system, raising the temperature and inactivating the repressor directly induces the Red functions without the intermediate step of N anti-termination.

A method is disclosed herein for producing plasmids including an origin of replication and a lambda phage of interest. Thus, using the plasmid sequences disclosed herein, and the technique of recombineering, many plasmids can be generated including different origins of replication. For example, primers can be generated that have homology to an origin of replication in a plasmid (for example, one of the plasmids schematically diagramed in FIGS. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13), and that have homology to a lambda nucleic acid sequence. In one example, the origin of replication is contained in a pBR322 origin segment, and the plasmid also has homology at its 5′ end to a lambda nucleic acid sequence. Thus, each one of the primers in a primer pair includes nucleic acid sequences that prime DNA synthesis (using amplification techniques, such as PCR) of the origin of replication, and also include nucleic acid sequences that can pair with (as they are sufficiently homologous to) a lambda nucleic acid. In one embodiment, the set of primers is used to amplify the origin of replication of interest. Thus, a nucleic acid sequence is amplified that includes the origin of replication, and is flanked by nucleic acid sequences homologous to lambda at each end (homology arms). This nucleic acid, including one homology arm to lambda, an origin of replication, and a second homology arm to lambda is then introduced into a gram negative bacterial cell which contains a lambda prophage inserted into the chromosomal DNA. The lysogenic lambda DNA present on the bacterial chromosome was pre-induced to produce Beta, Exo and Gam. Optionally, the lysogenic lambda phage includes a heterologous nucleic acid sequence encoding a selectable marker. Once the Red functions of lambda are induced (by de-repressing the P_(L) promoter), and the linear plasmid replicon segment has been introduced (such as by electroporation), recombination occurs between the linear nucleic acid vector and the lambda prophage. Thus, a plasmid is generated by gap repair recombination that includes both the origin of replication and the lambda nucleic acid sequence between the two flanking homologies incorporated on the linear origin DNA. Following outgrowth, circular gap-repaired plasmids with the origin of replication (such as the pBR322 origin of replication) can be isolated using selection for the marker (such as a drug resistance marker) on the prophage and standard molecular biological techniques, such as a “mini-prep” (see Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., (c) 1989).

It should be noted that other plasmid origins like that of pSC101 can be amplified in the same way as that described above for pBR322 with the same flanking lambda DNA homology using primers. In one example, the lambda DNA is the prophage recombined on the pBR322 origin by gap repair on the plasmid and it is not present on the chromosome. The linear pSC101 with lambda arms is electroporated into cells with the PBR322 plasmid carrying lambda Red functions (pSIM2 or pSIM4) which have been pre-induced to express Red functions. Recombination occurs between the lambda homology on the linear pSC101 and the lambda DNA on the pBR322 derivative plasmid. Recombinants are generated that replace the pBR322 origin with the pSC101 origin. The recombination mixture is grown overnight and in one embodiment, the plasmid mixture is isolated and introduced into cells that only allow replication of a specific origin of replication of interest. For example, the cells can be polA-defective cells, which do not allow the replication of pBR322, but allow replication from alternative origins of replication. In another example, the lambda phage includes a heterologous nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker. Bacterial cells are transformed with plasmids, and the selection system is utilized to isolate plasmids including an origin of replication and the selectable marker.

A method is disclosed herein for producing plasmids including an origin of replication and a lambda phage of interest. Thus, using the plasmid sequences disclosed herein, and the technique of recombineering, many plasmids can be generated including different origins of replication. For example, primers can be generated that have homology to an origin of replication in a plasmid (for example, one of the plasmids schematically diagramed in FIGS. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13), and that have homology to a lambda nucleic acid sequence. For example, one primer can include a sufficient number of consecutive nucleic acids from the 5′ region of an origin of replication, such as at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20 at least 30, at least 50, or at least 100 nucleotides, such that the primer can hybridize to the origin of replication. The 5′ end of this primer also includes a sufficient number of consecutive nucleic acids from lambda sequences, such as at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 30, at least 50, or at least 100 nucleotides, such that the primer can also hybridize to lambda. A second primer can include a sufficient number of consecutive nucleic acids from the distal region of an origin of replication, such as at least 5, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 30, at least 50, or at least 100 nucleotides, such that the primer can hybridize to the origin of replication. The primer also includes a sufficient number of consecutive nucleic acids from lambda sequences at it's 5′ end, such as at least about 5, at least about 10, at least about 15, at least about 20, at least about 30, at least about 50, or at least about 100 nucleotides, such that the 3′ primer can hybridize also to lambda. It should be noted that about 15 to about 100 nucleotides of a nucleotide sequence homologous to lambda, such as about 30 to about 100 nucleotides, such as about 50 to about 100 nucleotides, can be used in each of the first and second primers. In one specific example, at least 30 consecutive nucleotides from lambda sequences are utilized, such as 30 to 100 consecutive nucleotides from lambda.

These primers are then used in an amplification reaction, such that the origin of replication is amplified and the product includes a nucleotide sequence homologous to lambda at each end of the amplified product. Homologous recombination (such as “recombineering”) is then used to transfer the new origin of replication such that a plasmid is generated that includes a plasmid origin of replication and lambda nucleic acid sequences joined together.

In one example, the origin of replication of interest is a pBR322 origin segment; and the plasmid is constructed that includes the pBR322 origin and lambda. Thus, each one of the primers in a primer pair (a first primer and a second primer that can be used to amplify a sequence of interest) includes nucleic acid sequences that prime DNA synthesis (using amplification techniques, such as PCR) of the pBR322 origin of replication, and also include nucleic acid sequences that are homologous to a lambda nucleic acid. The pair of primers is used to amplify the origin of replication of interest, such as the pBR322 origin. Thus, a nucleic acid sequence is amplified that includes the desired origin of replication, and is flanked by nucleic acid sequences homologous to lambda at each end (homology arms). This nucleic acid, including one homology arm to lambda, an origin of replication, and a second homology arm to lambda is then introduced into a gram negative bacterial cell which contains a lambda prophage inserted into the chromosomal DNA (note that the lambda DNA can also be included on a plasmid, see below). The lysogenic lambda DNA present on the bacterial chromosome is pre-induced to produce Beta, Exo and Gam, by de-repressing the de-repressible promoter. Optionally, the lysogenic lambda phage includes a heterologous nucleic acid sequence encoding a selectable marker. Once the Red functions of lambda are induced (by de-repressing the P_(L) promoter), and the linear plasmid replicon segment has been introduced (such as by electroporation or transformation), recombination occurs between the linear nucleic acid and the lambda phage. Thus, a plasmid is generated by gap repair recombination that includes both the origin of replication and the lambda nucleic acid sequence between the two flanking homologies incorporated on the linear origin DNA. Following outgrowth, plasmids with the origin of replication (such as the pBR322 origin of replication) can be isolated using selection for the marker on the prophage and standard molecular biological techniques, such as a “mini-prep” (see Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: a Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., (c) 1989).

It should be noted that other plasmid origins can be amplified in the same way as that described above for the origin of pBR322 with the same flanking lambda DNA homology using primers. For example, the origin of replication can be one that functions in a broad host range of gram negative bacterial cells, such as the origin of replication found on pBBR1, pRK2 or IncQ. However, in other embodiments, the origin of replication can confer the ability to replicate in a more limited number of bacterial cells, such as the origin of replication found in pMB1. A conditional origin of replication can also be utilized. Conditional origins of replication are also known to one of skill in the art, and are described above. In one example, the origin from plasmid pSC101 is the origin of replication. To create a plasmid including this origin of replication, lambda DNA is utilized that is the prophage recombined on a different origin, such as a pBR322 origin, by gap-repair (such that the lambda DNA is included on a plasmid and is not present on the chromosome). The linear pSC1010 with lambda arms is electroporated into cells with a plasmid carrying lambda Red functions, which have been induced. Recombination occurs between the lambda homology on the linear pSC101 and the lambda DNA on the pBR322 derivative. Recombinants are generated that replace the pBR322 origin with the pSC101 origin. The recombination mixture is grown overnight and in one embodiment, the mixture of plasmids is isolated and introduced into cells that only allow replication of a specific origin of replication of interest. For example, the cells can be polA-cells, which do not allow the replication of pBR322, but allow replication from alternative origins of replication.

Growth in a specific cell type is not the only selection system that can be used to isolate plasmids including an origin of replication and lambda. In another example, the lambda phage also includes a heterologous nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker. This selectable marker can then be utilized to select the plasmids of interest.

Infective Phage Conferring Recombineering Functions to Bacterial Host Cells

Use of a phage with its endogenous regulatory elements can be used to achieve controlled, coordinate expression of the required genes (see Court et al., Ann. Rev. Genet. 36:361-88, 2002, herein incorporated by reference). The genome of lambda encodes about 50 genes, all of which have been sequenced (see GENBANK™ Accession No. J02459, incorporated herein by reference, restriction map available at the Fermenta website, and Daniels et al., Appendix II, Complete Annotated Lambda Sequence, Hendrix et al. (eds.), Lambda II, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., pp. 519-676, 1983, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety). The amino acid sequence of each gene product is also known (GENBANK™ Accession No. J02459 and Daniels et al., supra, both incorporated by reference in their entirety). It should be noted that a phage in the lysogenic phase, which is integrated into the chromosome of a bacterial cell is termed a “prophage.” Both prophages and phages are encompassed by the present disclosure.

Disclosed herein is an infectious lambda phage that includes a repressor that binds a P_(L) promoter, a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous nucleic acid sequence, P_(L), and a nucleic acid encoding Beta operably linked to P_(L), a nucleic acid encoding P, a nucleic acid encoding O, and a nucleic acid encoding cro. At least two of the nucleic acids encoding P, encoding O, and encoding Cro include an amber codon such that at least two of P, O and Cro proteins are not produced when the lambda phage is introduced into a suppressor minus host cell. In such suppressor minus cells a lysogenic prophage can form after infection. The full length O and P gene products allow the phage origin to replicate from the phage origin. A diagram of the genetic map of bacteriophage λ is shown in FIG. 2.

In several embodiments, the phage does not include a bacterial or plasmid origin of replication, such as a ColEl origin of replication, and/or does not include a bacterial initiation site of replication. For example, the phage does not include the initiation site (ini) of ColEl replication (see for example, Tomizawa et al., PNAS 74:1865-1869, 1977). Generally, for the purposes of this disclosure, unless otherwise stated, a “λ phage” or a “λ prophage” does not include a bacterial or plasmid origin of replication or a bacterial initiation site. Naturally occurring non-recombinant phages, including λ phage, do not include a bacterial origin of replication.

In one embodiment, the prophage contains the phage immunity region and the main leftward operon under control of the P_(L) promoter, but is missing the major rightward operon encoding the DNA replication genes, the lysis cassette, and the structural genes. Operationally, this means that following prophage induction, the cells will not lyse, nor will phage particles be produced. In one example, this phage does not include any origin of replication.

In lambda, the exo, bet and gam genes are clustered in the P_(L) operon and are expressed after induction of the prophage. The cI repressor directly controls the P_(L) promoter. A temperature sensitive repressor mutation, cI857, can be used so that cells transferred to 42° C. are rapidly induced as the repressor is inactivated. This mutant repressor rapidly regains activity upon transfer of the cells to lower temperatures, so that recombination functions are expressed transiently from P_(L), then shut off completely. Following removal of the repressor by heat induction, the expression of the exo, bet, and gam genes from P_(L) is initially prevented by transcriptional terminators. Ultimately, λ N function, encoded by the first gene in the pL operon, which is expressed following de-repression, modifies RNA polymerase to prevent transcription termination (Court and Oppenheim, Lambda II, pp. 251-277, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1983, incorporated herein by reference), thereby coordinately activating all the genes in the pL operon and allowing expression of the recombination functions.

Generally, the phages disclosed herein include Beta operably linked to the P_(L) promoter. The phages can also include a nucleic acid encoding Gam and Exo operably linked to the P_(L) promoter. However, in some examples, the phages do not encode Exo or Gam. The phage can optionally include repγ, Orf, or both, such as for plasmid replication. In one example, the phage encodes its own origin but the replication proteins O and P are disabled by amber mutations preventing replication.

It is desirable to be able to produce a phage that encodes the recombineering functions (for example, bet alone or bet in combination with exo and/or gam) and can infect a cell of interest to transfer the recombineering functions. The recombination functions Exo and Beta of λ have homologs throughout the virus kingdom. These homologs even include the Herpes virus proteins UL12 and ICP8. Thus, the phage can encode these proteins instead of Exo and Beta. The cell can be a prokaryotic or a eukaryotic cell. The phage can be λ phage, but is not necessarily λ phage. Thus, a bacterial virus or a eurkaryotic virus can be utilized. In several examples, bacteriophage 434, 21 or phi-80 are utilized.

In order to promote homologous recombination once the phage has infected the cell of interest, the phage must not enter the lytic cycle in this cell. Thus, it is desirable to produce a phage (or virus) that (1) transfers recombineering functions to a cell of interest but does not rapidly kill the cell, and (2) in another cell of interest the prophage can be induced to enter the lytic cycle to produce large quantities of phage, which in turn can be used to infect additional cells of interest.

In one embodiment, a phage (or prophage) is utilized that includes at least two amber (stop) mutations. These mutations change a codon normally encoding an amino acid to a UAG (stop) codon. The amber mutations produce truncated proteins in many wild-type E. coli (such as W3110, DH10B, MG1655, amongst others). The truncated proteins do not retain the function of the full length protein. However, full-length proteins can be produced in E. coli that carry amber suppressor tRNAs (such as LE392); in the presence of amber suppressor tRNAs, full-length functional protein are produced. These are called sup.

The phage (or prophage) includes one amber (UAG stop) mutation in the P or O gene, although amber mutations can be included in both the P and the O genes. For example, a P amber 80 (also called P sus80 or P80) mutation can be included in the P gene (see Campbell, Virology 14:22-32, 1961). In this example, P protein is only produced in a supE carrying E. coli strain. However, any amber mutation can be used in the O and/or the P genes. In one embodiment, the mutation in the P or O gene is suppressed in either a supE or a supF strain.

The phage (or prophage) can also include an amber (UAG stop) mutation in cro. For example, the tyrosine at position 26 in the cro gene can be mutated to an amber (UAG stop) codon. In this example, the amber mutation is suppressed in a supF strain such that Cro is produced. Optionally, the phage can also include a temperature sensitive mutation, cI857 in the λ cI repressor gene. Thus, the cI gene, a temperature sensitive cI protein, and the cro gene, an amber mutation, encodes a truncated defective Cro protein.

In one embodiment, the phage (or prophage) includes an amber mutation in the P, O or both P and O genes that is suppressed in either a supE or a supF strain. The phage further includes an amber mutation in the Cro gene that is suppressed in either a supE or a supF strain. However, the amber mutations differ; one mutation is included that is suppressed in a supE strain and one mutation is included that is suppressed in a supF strain. For example, the phage can include a mutation in the P gene that is suppressed by supE and a mutation in cro that is suppressed by supF. The phage can include a mutation in the P gene that is suppressed by supF and a mutation in cro that is suppressed by supE. The phage can include a mutation in the P and the O gene that is suppressed by supF and also includes a mutation in cro that is suppressed by supE. Similarly, the phage can include a mutation in the O gene that is suppressed by supF and a mutation in cro that is suppressed by supE, or a mutation in the O gene that is suppressed by supE and a mutation in cro that is suppressed by supF. In this manner, both supE and supF are required to induce lysis. Thus, if the phage infects a cell that is supE and supF, the phage will enter the lytic cycle and phage particles will be produced. When these phage particles infect a cell of interest that does not contain any suppressors, like most “wild-type” strains, the phage does not reproduce and the cell survives. The phage can become a lysogen in a cell without a suppressor and repress its P_(L) and P_(R) operons. Thus, the recombineering functions will be transferred to the cell of interest, and homologous recombination can occur inside the cell upon de-repression of the P_(L) promoter at 42° C.

The phage can also include a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker. Any selectable marker can be utilized, such as a nucleic acid encoding drug resistance, a nucleic acid encoding an enzyme, or a nucleic acid encoding a detectable label. In one example, the nucleic acid encodes a protein that confers resistance to an antibiotic. Suitable selectable markers encode tetracycline resistance or ampicillin resistance. However, the heterologous nucleic acid can be a nucleic acid that encodes an enzyme, such as beta-galactosidase, galactokinase or tryptophan synthetase. These markers allow ease of selection of lysogens carrying the prophage.

Generally, the nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker is inserted into a phage gene encoding a protein that is not essential for the production of phage particles. For example, the nucleic acid encoding the selectable marker can be introduced to replace the λ rexA and/or λ rexB genes, or both. The nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker can also be introduced in the S gene of phage λ.

Thus, upon introduction of the phage into a host cell including amber suppressors, phage particles can be produced. However, upon introduction of the phage into a suppressor minus strain, the phage will integrate into a chromosome of the host cell and exist as a defective prophage.

Thus, a lambda phage (or prophage) is disclosed herein that includes, consists essentially of, or consists of, a temperature sensitive cI repressor that binds a P_(L) promoter, a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous nucleic acid sequence, P_(L) promoter, and a nucleic acid encoding Beta operably linked to P_(L), a nucleic acid encoding P, a nucleic acid encoding O, and a nucleic acid encoding Cro, wherein at least two of the nucleic acid encoding P, the nucleic acid encoding O, and the nucleic acid encoding Cro comprise an amber codon such that at least two of P, O, and Cro proteins are not produced when the lambda phage is introduced into a suppressor minus host cell. The phage (or prophage) can include cI857; the phage (or prophage) does include an origin of replication. In several examples, a defective prophage is also missing the major rightward operon encoding the DNA replication genes, the lysis cassette, and the structural genes. In an additional example, the phage (or prophage) includes an amber mutation in P and an amber mutation in O, and a tet cassette for tetracycline resistance in the S gene.

Thus, a homologous recombination system can be introduced into cells of interest by phage infection. A viable λ plaque-forming phage that contains multiple conditional mutations is used to infect a bacterial cell of interest. The phage can optionally include a selectable marker, such as a nucleic acid encoding drug resistance. In specific cell types, the phage will integrate into the nucleic acid of the host cells and will exist as a prophage. The selectable marker can be used to select cells of interest that include the phage as a prophage, in order to obtain host cells that express the recombineering functions.

In one example, this phage can be used to introduce recombineering functions into a culture of E. coli containing mixed, complete eukaryotic genomic libraries by infecting the complete library population with this phage. The introduction of phages into bacterial cells, such as gram negative cells, is well known in the art (see Ptashne et al., supra). Thus, lysogens of the entire population (bacterial cells now carrying the integrated phage) can be selected using a selectable marker. For example, host cells can be selected that are tetracycline resistant due to a cassette carried by the infecting phage. In the library strain, the defective prophage construct conveys the recombination functions and conveys the selectable marker.

Any phage (including but not limited to λ phage) can be engineered to provide homologous recombination functions (such as Beta, Gam and/or Exo) to a host cell. It is known that derivatives of λ phage infect only a few species of bacteria (such as those related to E. coli K12). By appropriate engineering of other phages based on the disclosure presented herein, recombineering functions can be introduced into many species. For example, phages can be engineered for use in Bacillus subtilis or other bacterial cells.

The phages or plasmids disclosed herein can be used to introduce recombineering functions into any host cell of interest. This system can be used in all types of bacterial cells, including gram negative and gram positive bacterial cells. In this manner, a nucleic acid sequence of interest can be introduced into a target nucleic acid. Methods are described for example, in published U.S. Pat. Publication No. US-2003-0224521-A1, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The disclosure is illustrated by the following non-limiting Examples.

EXAMPLES

A new in vivo genetic engineering technology, recombineering, developed recently allows rapid and precise in vivo manipulation of DNA and shows great promise for use in functional genomic analysis. It does not rely on restriction sites for cloning, instead uses short regions of homology and bacteriophage lambda encoded Red proteins (Exo, Bet and Gam) capable of catalyzing recombination between these homologies to link novel combinations of genes and other genetic elements (see FIG. 1). To be able to use recombineering in different prokaryotic systems, the Red system must be transferred to these organisms. A minimal Red expression cassette on plasmid vectors has been generated and is disclosed herein. These plasmids provide easy mobility in different bacterial backgrounds in addition to tight and coordinated gene regulation.

Example 1 Generation of Plasmid Constructs

Plasmid with phage genes were cloned and generated by a gap repair mechanism which entails the retrieval of Red genes along with the λ regulatory elements from a defective lambdoid prophage into linear PCR amplified origin of replication sequences of the plasmids. This method eliminates standard cloning technology for the phage DNA and importantly the cloned segment is not replicated in vitro by PCR. Thus, the chances of extraneous changes occurring in the sequence are reduced.

A prophage lambda derivative was created from the recombineering strain DY330 in which the N through kil genes were deleted using an oligonucleotide of sequence 5′ to 3′ as follows:

-   -   ACGAAACGAAGCATTGGCCGTAAGTGCGATTCCGGATTACTAATC         GCCCGGCATTTCGCGGGCGATATTTTCACAGC (SEQ ID NO: 32; the deletion         junction is illustrated, wherein base 33132 (no underlining,         last A in regular text) is next to base 35445 of phage λ, first         base of underlined sequence)),         and deleting lambda published nucleotide sequence from 33131 to         35444 respectively, by recombineering technology. Strain DY330         is temperature sensitive for growth at 42° C. before of kil gene         expression from this prophage. The deletion removes kil,         allowing the DY330 derivative to grow at 42° C. Next the rexAB         coding region was replaced by recombineering with either the CmR         cassette cat or the AmpR cassette amp to create plasmids (termed         pSIM plasmids, see FIG. 16A), selecting for the respective drug         resistance marker.

The genes of this new prophage from pR through exo tL3 were retrieved into the plasmid ori of pBR322 by recombineering (for example, see FIG. 16B). The pBR322 plasmid origin was PCR amplified using primers with 5′ homologies to the pR and tL3 regions of lambda (FIG. 16C). The prophage strain was induced for Red functions and electroporated with the PCR ori product. The electroporated cells were diluted into 10 ml of LB and incubated overnight at 32° C. (see FIGS. 3 and 13). The plasmid recombinant pSIM2 (or pSIM4) was found by transforming strain W3110 and selecting Cm^(R) or Amp^(R), respectively.

The ori segment (from pBR322) was replaced for pSIM2 or pSIM4 with the origins from the other plasmids such as pSC101, pBBR1 and RK2 using homology arms flanking the ori regions made by polymerase chain reaction (see FIG. 16D). Red functions were induced from the pSIM2 or pSIM4 containing strains and the homology flanked origin PCR fragments were electroporated and the culture diluted into 10 ml of LB for overnight growth at 32° C. Mini-preps were made and the plasmid recombinants for Cm^(R) or Amp^(R) were selected on a W3 110 polA mutant strain which does not allow pBR322 origin containing plasmids to replicate. Thus, the pSC101, pBBR1 and RK2 recombinants containing the defective prophage were selected as recombinant plasmids. Methods used for producing these plasmids are disclosed in (Constantino and Court, PNAS 100:15748-15753, 2003; Court et al., Ann. Rev. Genet. 36:361-388, 2002; Yu et al., PNAS 97:5978-5983, 2000; Lee et al., Genomics 73:56-65, 2001; Thomason et al., “Recombineering-Genetic Engineering in Bacteria Using Homologous Recombination,” in Current Protocols in Molecular Biology (Ausbel et al., eds.), John Wiley & Sons, Unit 1.16, 2003, all of which are incorporated herein by reference).

In the plasmid construct most of the non-essential genes in the P_(L) operon have been removed, including the transcription terminators and the anti-termination gene N. The rex genes of the phage have been replaced by a drug marker for selection. The P_(L) promoter is regulated by the temperature sensitive cI857 repressor and the O_(L) and O_(R) operators are present to ensure tight repressor control. Raising the temperature from 32° C. to 42° C. inactivates the repressor and induces the Red functions from P_(L) without requiring the intermediate step of N anti-termination. The vector carrying the minimal Red system has the ori sequences derived either from pUC or temperature sensitive mutant of pSC101 or the broad host range plasmid pBBR1 or RK2.

Using the plasmid constructs in E. coli for recombineering, recombination frequencies of ≧10⁴/10⁸ viable cells have been achieved with PCR products containing drug resistance cassettes, while with single-strand oligos recombination frequencies of ≧10⁷/10⁸ viable cells were observed. The pSC101 based Red system has been successfully applied in Salmonella to achieve efficient recombination, as shown herein.

Example 2 Exemplary Plasmids

One plasmid/prophage system was generated that has a temperature sensitive pSC101 replication origin (pSIM5 is Cm^(R); pSIM6 is Amp_(R)). This plasmid catalyzes Red recombination as efficiently as does the defective prophage in E. coli; the level of unwanted induced background recombination is also as low as that of the single copy prophage (see Table 1). A comparison of the chromosomal defective system and the plasmid defective prophage systems described here and the pBAD plasmid expression system of Datsenko and Wanner (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 97:6640-5, 2001) is presented in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Recombination efficiencies of various recombineering systems with ds- and ssDNA ssDNA oligo galK⁺ dsDNA galK<>amp dsDNA galK<>amp Plasmid origin targeted to E. coli targeted to E. coli targeted to S. typhimurium Source of Red and copy number^(c) Recombinants/10⁸ viable cells Recombinants/10⁸ viable cells Recombinants/10⁸ viable cells standard defective None 1.5 × 10⁷ ± 6.5 × 10⁶  2.5 × 10^(4d) n.a. (N-kil)⁺prophage Δ(N-kil) prophage None 1.4 × 10⁷ ± 6.3 × 10⁶  1.2 × 10^(4d) n.a. pSIM1* colE1 lacking 1.7 × 10⁷ ± 8.7 × 10⁶ 1.5 × 10⁴ n.d. replication control 300-500 pSIM5* pSC101ts 1.8 × 10⁷ ± 3.3 × 10⁶ 2.8 × 10⁴ 9.0 × 10³ ~5 pSIM7* pBBR1 2.7 × 10⁷ 2.3 × 10⁴ 9.6 × 10³ 12-20 pKD119^(a) pSC101ts 4.9 × 10⁶ ± 7.3 × 10⁵ 3.2 × 10³ n.d. pKD119^(b) ~5 2.8 × 10⁵ ± 2.5 × 10⁵ n.d. n.d. *prophage on plasmid ^(a)10 mM arabinose, in W3110 ^(b)1 mM arabinose, in W3110 ^(c)Sambrook et al.

The same minimal prophage has also been combined with a temperature sensitive RK2 (pSIM9, Cm^(R)) origin of replication to make another broad host range, low copy number vector. Low copy number reduces undesirable background recombination: a colE1-based plasmid (pUC) origin lacking copy number control and carrying the same minimal prophage gives an unacceptably high number of recombinants (about 1,000-fold greater than the single copy prophage) in the absence of heat induction (see Table 1), and places a metabolic load on the host, as evidenced by slow growth of cultures carrying these high copy number plasmids (pSIM1 and pSIM2). A broad host range plasmid carrying the pBBR1 origin, pSIM7/8 has an intermediate copy number (Table 1). It should be noted that the broad host range plasmids can be further modified by addition of mobilization functions that would enable mating between more distantly related species.

Example 3 Recombineering Using galK<>amp PCR Product for Either E. coli or typhimurium galK Sequence

1. Linear Drug Cassettes and Single-strand Oligonucleotides Used for Recombineering:

The ampicillin resistant (ApR) cassette amp used to replace the galK gene of E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium was amplified from pBluescript SK (+) (Stratagene) with primers SD3, SD4 and SD5, SD6, respectively (Table 1). The primers contain two parts: a 5′ end homologous to the flanking regions of galK of E. coli or Salmonella and a 3′ end that primes the cassette for replication (indicated in italics, Table 1).

The ssDNA oligo used for recombineering was supplied by Invitrogen as salt free but otherwise unpurified. The sequence of the 70-mer Oligo 144 which corrects the TAG stop codon of E. coli galK gene to a TAC tyrosine codon is:

5′AAGTCGCGGTCGGAACCGTATTGCAGCAGCTT (SEQ ID NO: 33) TAC CATCTGCCGCTGGACGGCGCACAAATCGCGC TTAA-3′. 2. Preparation of Cells for Recombineering:

The strains carrying the minimal defective prophage SIMD3/SIMD4 were grown and induced for Red functions for 15 minutes as in Yu et al., supra, 2000 Briefly, overnight cultures of SIMD3/SIMD4 grown at 32° C. from isolated colonies were diluted 70-fold in LB medium and grown at 32° C. with shaking to an OD₆₀₀=0.4-0.6. Induction was performed on a 15 ml culture in a baffled conical flask by placing the flask in a water bath maintained at 42° C. for 15 minutes under shaking conditions (200 revolutions per minute). Immediately after the 15-minute induction, the flask was swirled in ice water slurry to cool for 10 minutes. An uninduced control culture was also placed into the ice slurry. The cooled 15 ml culture was centrifuged for 7 minutes at 6,700×g at 4° C. The cell pellet was suspended in 1 ml of ice-cold sterile water followed by addition of another 30 ml of ice-cold water before centrifuging again at 6,700×g for 7 minutes. The supernatant was carefully discarded and the pellet was suspended in 1 ml of ice-cold sterile water and transferred to a 1.5-ml eppendorf tube, and was spun for 1 minute at 4° C. at maximum speed in a microfuge. The cell pellet was resuspended in 200 μl of ice-cold sterile water and 50 μl of these cells and 100 ng of PCR product or single-strand oligo were used for each electroporation. After electroporation 1 ml LB was immediately added to the electroporation mix and the cells were grown at 30° C. either overnight (during making of the Red expression vector) or for 2 hours for recombineering using both double-stranded DNA or ss oligo before being diluted for plating.

3. Screening of Recombinants

Cells were diluted in 1×M9 salt buffer before plating for drug resistance selection. Generally the LA plates containing 30≡g/ml of ampicillin or 10 μg/ml of chloramphenicol were used for plating and recombinants were selected at 32° C. The Gal⁻ phenotype was also tested by streaking colonies on Mac Conkey galactose indicator agar that gave white or colorless colonies in contrast to the Red colonies of Gal⁺ cells. Gal⁺ recombinant colonies were selected on M63 minimal galactose plates with biotin and viable cells were counted on LB agar.

4. Results

The results are shown below in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Recombineering with RED Plasmids Using galK<>amp PCR Product for either E. coli or Salmonella typhimurium galK Sequence Amp^(R) recombinants per Amp^(R) recombinants per Source Plasmid 10⁸ viable cells 10⁸ viable cells of RED Origin E. coli S. typhimurium pSIM2 pBR322 1.5 × 10⁴ Not Done pSIM5 pSC101ts 2.8 × 10⁴ 9.0 × 10³ pSIM7 PBBR1 2.3 × 10⁴ 9.6 × 10³ pSIM9 RK2ts 4.5 × 10⁴ 1.3 × 10³

The functionality of the Red system has already been demonstrated in Salmonella and recombineering can be used in Salmonella species (see the above examples). Thus, Red or RecET-like systems will be operative in other gram-negative bacteria closely related to E. coli, such as Pseudomonas and Streptomyces species, or Vibrio and Shigella. It should be noted that dsDNA viruses other than λ encode Red-like SynExo two component recombinases (see Vellani and Myers, J Bacteriol. 185:2465-74, 2003; Reuven et al., J. Virol. 77:7425-33, 2003, Mikhailov et al., J. Virol. 77:2436-44, 2003); such recombinases are likely to catalyze efficient and accurate recombination in their particular host, and could be substituted for lambda Red functions. Currently, there are three well-studied families of exonucleases (λ Exo, RecE and ABC2-modified RecBCD) and five families of synaptases (Beta, RecT, ERF, ICP8 and LEF-3), identified by BLAST searches, ultrastructural analysis and enzymology. Thus, there is a superfamily of Beta single-strand annealing proteins with members widespread throughout the prokaryotic world. Indeed, members of the Red Beta family have been in many bacteria, including Borrelia, Listeria and Streptococcus. The Bacillus phage SPP1 Chu/gp35 SynExo recombinase (Vellani and Myers, supra, 2003) could also be used for recombineering in Bacillus bacterial cells. Phage functions that co-evolved with the host bacteria are optimized to maintain allele-specific interactions with host proteins likely to facilitate high efficiency and high fidelity recombination. Without being bound by theory, for optimal recombineering, it is believed that the nuclease and synaptase pairs should be evolutionary partners.

The λ Gam protein specifically inhibits the E. coli RecBCD and SbcCD nucleases, and BLAST analysis suggests that it is less widely distributed than the Red and RecET functions, as it is present in only some pathogenic strains of E. coli, Shigella, and Salmonella prophages. While RecBCD-like ExoV enzymes are found in many gram-negative bacterial species, the gram-positive bacteria often contain a two-subunit form of this enzyme (AddAB or RexAB). Given the widespread distribution of ExoV activity in bacteria, there may be functional analogs of Gam in other phages. If analogs to ExoV and the SbcCD nucleases are not present in the organism of interest, λ Gam is likely to be ineffective, and other non-RecBCD-like nucleases may degrade introduced linear DNA even in the presence of Gam. Some phages have proteins that protect linear DNA from degradation, and some of these could, like λ Gam, protect dsDNA while still allowing its participation in recombination reactions. It should be noted that not all phage-encoded nuclease inhibitors will be useful in this context, since some (i.e. Mu Gam and T4 gp2) act by apparently binding DNA ends, protecting them from degradation, but also making them unavailable to participate in recombination.

Example 4 Generation of a Phage

The sequences of the rexAB genes and the S gene of lambda are shown in FIGS. 17 and 19; the tetracycline cassette is inserted to replace these genes in lambda (see FIGS. 18 and 20).

The first phage used was lambda cI857 ind1 rexAB< >tetRA Cro Tyr26 TAG Pam80=Gln60 TAG. A second phage is created that is identical to the first except that rexAB will be intact and the S gene will be replaced with tetRA [S< >tetRA] (see FIG. 18).

Lambda cI857, used for the generation of the multiply mutant phages (a phage with more than one mutation in its genome), had the cI857 allele change and the ind1 allele, which is indicated in the cI gene annotation of that sequence (see Ptashne, M., “A Genetic Switch,” Third Edition, phage Lambda Revised, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, New York, ISBN No. 0-8769-716, 2004). The prophage in strains DY329, DY330, DY331, DY378 include the cI857 allele but are ind+ (these strains do not carry the ind1 mutation), while the prophage in strain DY380 carries both the cI857 and ind1 mutant alleles.

The multiply mutant lambda phage was further changed by adding two additional point mutations, both of which were amber mutations. The amber mutations were introduced into the phage so that the phage will be defective for killing with a 15 minute induction at 42° C. (because of the P amber 80 mutation, see below) and will be constitutive for pL expression (because of the Cro amber mutation, see below) as a prophage in a particular E. coli strain. The amber mutations cause defective proteins in E. coli including W3110, DH10B, MG1655 and others. In this manner, a pair of amber mutations was inserted that are suppressed by two different suppressor tRNAs for functional expression of both gene products.

Both of these suppressor tRNA mutations are present in LE392 strain. In this host (or similar hosts with both suppressors) this phage made plaques and could be propagated lytically to make high titer lysates (>1 billion phage/ml). These lysates could be used to infect and lysogenize the DH10B like strains, which have no suppressor tRNA (and are called sup zero or sup minus). In these sup zero strains, the phages are defective (and have an effect similar to the defective prophages in DY329 and DY380). However, it should be noted that a substantial difference exists between the presently generated phage and the prophages DY329 and DY380: high titer phage lysates can be made using the phages containing the amber mutants by infecting sup⁺ hosts like LE392.

The amber mutation in Cro changes a tyrosine codon at position 26 in the cro gene to a UAG amber codon. This amber mutation is suppressed only by the supF tyr tRNA (see Oppenheim et al., Virology 319:185-189, 2004, incorporated by reference herein, which describes methods of use in generating amber mutants in lambda). The amber mutation in P is the P sus80 mutation (see Campbell, Virology 14:22-32, 1961, which is incorporated by reference herein). This mutation is also called P80 or P amber80. This mutation was added to the cI857 ind1 cro amber phage using the Oppenheim method of mutagenesis (see Oppenheim et al., op. cit., incorporated by reference). These mutations were detected by being able to form plaques on LE392 but not a supF only strain (because the P amber is not suppressed by supF; it needs supE to allow P protein to be made). This phage does not grow on a supE only strain like C600 because of the cro amber mutation.

It should be noted that other combinations of different ambers could be used in cro or P. Alternatively, an amber mutation in O could be produced, instead of P, as a prophage that includes an amber mutation in O is also replication defective. Thus, a prophage including an amber mutation in O and an amber mutation in cro could also be lytic in the LE392 strain, but not in a sup minus strain of bacteria.

Once the amber mutations were introduced into the phage, the tetR gene was PCR amplified with flanking homologies to the rexAB genes. FIG. 17 shows the sequence of the rexAB genes. Using recombineering, these tet genes were crossed into the amber mutant phage in the rex region as shown in FIG. 18. In addition, another phage was recombined with tetRA replacing the S gene (see FIG. 19) of the amber phage. Thus, a similar cross (as with rex) was done by recombineering using S flanking homologies to insert tetRA in place of S gene in the phage carrying the amber mutants (see FIG. 20). When rexAB is replaced the phage still made plaques on LE392 but not on DH10B. However, Tet resistant lysogens can be formed in DH10B (or other strains on which plaques do not form). The phage enters the lysogenic cycle and integrates its DNA in the bacterial chromosome at attB. When S is replaced by tetRA then the phage becomes defective for plaque formation in all strains because S is needed to make a plaque. However, S is not needed to produce phage in bacterial cells. Thus, the recombineering cross to create the S< >tetRA mutant was itself used to infect LE392 and TetR lysogens were selected in the suppressor strain.

These lambda cI857 ind1 Cro amber Pamber S< >tetRA lysogens of LE392 can be induced by growing a culture in LB broth until OD 600 of 0.4 at 32° C. and then shifting to 42° C. for 15 minutes and back to 39° C. for 2 hours with shaking in a water bath. During these two hours, phage production progressed in LE392 and the cells did not lyse (because the S gene is needed for lysis). After two hours the cells were concentrated by centrifugation and suspended in a small volume of buffer (Tris 0.01M, Mg⁺⁺ 0.01M) and treated with chlorophorm, which caused lysis and release of large numbers of phage (>10 billion/ml). This pure preparation of phage can be used to infect DH10B or other suppressor defective E. coli selecting for TetR lysogens at 32° C.

This strategy allows (with either the rex or S phage) the selection of TetR lysogens in various hosts, including recA defective hosts or other recombination defective strains. This strategy also allows large cultures of non-lysogenic strains. For example, a BAC library of human genomic clones or another such library can be infected and converted to TetR, being lysogenic for these defective lambda phages. These defective prophages can be used to induce recombineering in any cell of interest. Temperate phages other than phage λ can be changed to ind⁻-like as shown by Friedman et al. Such ind⁻ phages can then be converted to carry a temperature sensitive repressor like cI857 (see Tyler and Friedmen, J. Bacteriol. 186:7670-9, 2004).

Mutations can be created in phage, including bacteriophage λ, using recombineering. Briefly, E. coli harboring a defective λ prophage is infected with the phage to be engineered. The partial prophage carries the P_(L) operon under control of the cI857 temperature sensitive repressor. The lysogen is induced to express the Red functions (Beta, Gam and/or Exo), the induced cells are made competent for electroporation, and the PCR produce of oligonucleotide is introduced by a standard method of introducing nucleic acids into bacterial cells, such as electroporation. Following electroporation, a phage lysate is made from the electroporation mix.

Thus, as disclosed herein, mutations can be created in phage, including bacteriophage X, using recombineering. Briefly, E. coli harboring a defective λ prophage is infected with the phage to be engineered. The partial prophage carries the P_(L) operon under control of the cI857 temperature sensitive repressor. The lysogen is induced to express the Red functions (Beta, Gam and/or Exo), the induced cells are made competent for electroporation, and the PCR product of oligonucleotide is introduced by a standard method of introducing nucleic acids into bacterial cells, such as electroporation. Following electroporation, a phage lysate is made from the electroporation mix. (see Oppenheim et al., Virology 319:185-189, 2004, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).

Example 5 Generation of Phages

Phages were generated that include suppressible mutations by introducing UAG termination codons in the essential λ genes O, P, Q, (Oppenheim et al., Virology 319:185-189, 2004, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety) S, and E. The target phage λ cII68 acquired these amber mutations at a frequency of 1-3% in a cross with 70-nucleotide long single-stranded oligos with the UAG codon at the center of the oligonucleotide. Amber mutants were easily identified as cloudy plaques with a double-layer bacterial lawn (see Campbell, Genetic Structure. In: Hershey (ed), The Bacteriophage Lambda, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., pp 13-44, 1971; Oppenheim et al., supra). The lower layer contains the restrictive host W3110 and the top layer contains the infected supF suppressor host LE392 cells and form cloudy plaques (because W3110 cells in the lower layer grow to confluence and remain unlysed by the amber mutant phage).

Previous studies of λ Cro function were based primarily on the use of one missense mutant, cro27. The phage cI857 cro27 forms clear plaques at 37° C. but cannot form plaques at either 32° C. or 42° C. (Eisen, H., and Ptashne, M., “Regulation of repressor synthesis,” A. D., p. 239-245, 1971). The Cro protein contains three tyrosine residues, and each tyrosine codon (70-base oligo used) was independently replaced with UAG. Screening plaques at 42° C. in a double layer, approximately 2% of total plaques were cloudy. On LE392, the resultant mutants grow at 32° C., 37° C. and 42° C., but on W3110 they form plaques only at 37° C. An 80-nucleotide oligonucleotide was used to generate a 326-bp deletion of the cII gene in λ c⁺. This ss-oligo provides 40 bases of homology at each end of the segment to be deleted. λ c⁺ normally forms turbid plaques. Clear plaque recombinants were found at a frequency of 2%. Sequencing showed that the resulting clear mutant phage carried a deletion exactly corresponding to the original design. This deletion fuses the cII translation initiation condon to the downstream O gene, creating a phage with O at the normal cII location. It should be noted that, using recombineering, deletions as large as 5 kb have been generated with oligonucleotides on the E. coli chromosome with good efficiency.

The phage λ rexA and rexB genes were replaced precisely with a bla gene conferring ampicillin resistance. The bla gene was first amplified by PCR using primers with 5′ homology to the flanking regions of the rexAB genes; the PCR product was then targeted to the λ chromosome with recombineering. A phage lysate was grown from the electroporation mix and used to form lysogens. AmpR lysogens were selected and the replacement of the rexAB genes by the bla gene in such lysogens was confirmed by PCR analysis (Yu et al., supra, 2000) and by the ability of the recombinant lysogens to plate T4rII mutant phage (Benzer, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 41:344-354, 1955). Using appropriate PCR primers and the gene SOEing technique (Horton et al., Biotechniques 8 (5):528-535, 1990), a linear DNA product was created containing an intact copy of the wild-type λ P gene adjoining a precise deletion of the entire ren gene but with homology beyond ren in the ninR region of the phage. The construct was targeted to an infecting Pam80 phage; P⁺ recombinants were selected and screened for the ren deletion. P⁺ recombinants were obtained at a frequency of 2%; 20% of these had the deletion.

1. Analysis of Mutations Arising from the use of Oligonucleotides in Recombineering.

It has been demonstrated that recombineering provides an efficient way to manipulate the bacteriophage genome. However, it was found that sometimes oligonucleotide recombination has associated unwanted mutations. To understand the origin and nature of these unwanted mutants, a protocol was designed to score for both true recombinants and unwanted changes. Phage λ cI857 carries a temperature-sensitive mutation in repressor; thus, the phage forms clear plaques at 37° C. and turbid plaques at 30° C. (Sussman and Jacob, C. R. Acad. Sci. (Pari ) 254:1517-1519, 1962). Two complementary oligonucleotides were designed that were 82 residues long, with wild-type repressor gene sequence that could generate wild-type λ recombinants in a cross with λ cI857 (FIG. 1). These oligos cover about 1/10 of the cI coding region and are centered on the cI857 allele. The recombinant lysate was diluted and plated on W3110 at either 37° C. or 32° C. At 37° C., λ c⁺ recombinants form turbid plaques. At 32° C., both parent and recombinant should form turbid plaques. When plaques from the recombineering cross were grown at 37° C., most were clear, however, 4-13% were turbid as expected of wild-type recombinants (Table 1). When the recombinant lysate was plated at 32° C., most plaques were turbid as expected, however, a significant proportion, 0.5-2%, was clear. This number is 10-40 times higher than the spontaneous frequency of clear plaques (approximately 0.05%) found in lysates prepared the same way but without the addition of oligonucleotide or with the addition of an oligonucleotide lacking homology.

To understand the source of the unwanted clear mutations, clear and turbid recombinants were purified and sequenced their cI gene. Fourteen turbid λ cI⁺ recombinants isolated at 37° C. had all been corrected for the cI857 mutation without additional mutations. However, all clear plaques identified at 32° C. contained other mutations of cI. These mutations were about equally produced by the two oligonucleotides. Twenty-four or twenty-five of those sequenced had mutations in the region covered by the ss-oligo. Among these 24 mutants, 22 had also converted the cI857 allele to wild-type. One of these 22 mutants was a GC to TA transversion, the rest were deletions of one or more bases of the cI sequence. The one change outside of the oligo region was a GC to TA transversion that retained the cI857 allele and possibly arose spontaneously.

To demonstrate that these mutations were not specific to cI857 or to the oligo sequence, the experiment was repeated using wild-type λ cI⁺ and complementary ss-oligos from a different region of the cI gene in a cross. These oligonucleotides carried a single silent AT to GC change. As before, clear plaques were found in the lysate following recombineering. The DNA from 16 clear plaques was sequenced. Fifteen carried the silent mutation indicating that they had undergone recombineering. Nine had a single base pair deletion, three had longer deletions, one mutant had an added AT base pair, one showed a CG to TA transition, and one had a GC to AT base substitution mutation located outside the region covered by the ss-oligo. The one mutant lacking the signature change had a CG to TA transition outside the region covered by the ss-oligo and may have been a spontaneous clear mutant.

Exp. # Host Oligo λ c⁺ % λ cI⁻ % 1 DY433 W 6 2 2 HME31 W 6 1.5 3 HME31 C 13 2 4 HME31 W 4 0.5 recA 5 HME31 — <0.05 <0.05 5 HME31 #100 <0.05 <0.05 6 HME31 C* 3.2 0.1

The results presented above suggest that most of the mutations were introduced during synthesis of the single stranded oligonucleotides (ss-oligos). Based on the results and chemistry of synthesis, one would expect that at each position of the oligonucleotide there would be an equal chance of not incorporating the added base (Hecker and Rill, Biotechniques 24(2):256-260 1998; Temsamani et al., Nucleic Acids Research 23(11):1841-1844 1995). Examination of the sequence changes among the frameshifts show that they cluster toward the center of the ss-oligo. The terminal regions lack mutations, suggesting that complete base pairing at the termini may be important for efficient annealing to the phage DNA.

To reduce the frequency of frameshift mutations, the ss-oligos were further purified. Purification by HPLC did not reduce the mutation frequency (data not shown) probably because HPLC does not efficiently separate oligos of this length, whereas PAGE-purified oligonucleotides yielded efficient recombineering with fewer frameshifts (see above table). This result supports the notion that base deletions originating during chemical synthesis of the oligonucleotides are responsible for generating mutations. Single base frameshift deletions occur rarely as spontaneous mutations (Schaaper and Dunn, Genetics 129(2):317-326, 1991). In the above examples, deletion mutations formed usually also carried the designed change present on the ss-oligo, suggesting that the frameshifts were conferred by the synthetic ss-oligo. Thus, the experimental approach described herein provides a simple and sensitive assay for oligonucleotide quality. Recombineering with unpurified synthetic oligonucleotides could also be used to provide an efficient way to introduce random single base deletions at specific sites in genes or regulatory regions. The results do not suggest that the act of recombineering causes random mutagenesis.

When recombineering with the bacterial chromosome, one of two complementary ss-oligos gives more recombinants (Ellis et al., supra, 2001; Zhang et al., Nature Genetics 20:123-128, 2003). This strand bias depends upon the direction of replication through the recombining region with the lagging strand being the more recombinogenic. In the phage crosses, both complementary oligos were equally efficient in promoting recombination at λ cI. Without being bound by theory, this can be due to the rolling circle mode of phage DNA replication, which can roll in either direction (Takahashi, Mol. Gen. Genet. 142(2):137-153, 1975). Thus, replication forms pass through cI in both directions and neither strand is exclusively leading or lagging.

In the cross with λ cI857, mottled plaques were observed at 37° C., which suggested that the λ DNA was packaged with a heteroduplex allele in cI (Huisman and Fox, Genetics 112(3):409-420, 1986). Six independent mottled plaques were purified; they gave rise to a mixture of turbid and clear plaques. Sequence analysis showed that in all cases the turbid plaques had incorporated the wild-type allele, whereas the clear plaques retained the original cI857 mutation, indicating that the oligonucleotide paired with the phage chromosome and was incorporated without mismatch correction. These heterozygous phages are generated in recA mutant crosses, which suggests that the ss-oligo is annealed by Beta protein to single-strand gaps at the replication fork (Court et al., Annu. Rev. Genet. 36:361-388, 2003; Stahl et al., Genetics 147(3):961-977, 1997).

2. Materials and Methods

a. Creating Mutations with Recombineering.

The strains used for recombineering carry a defective λ prophage containing the p_(L) operon under control of the temperature-sensitive repressor cI857. The genotype of one commonly used strain, DY330, is W3110 ΔlacU169 gal490 pglΔ8 λcI857 Δ(cro-bioA). The strain of choice is grown in a shaking water bath at 32° C. in LB with 0.4% maltose to mid-exponential phase, A₆₀₀ 0.4-0.6 (30 ml is adequate for several recombineering reactions). The culture is harvested by centrifugation and resuspended in 1 ml TM (10 mM Tris base, 10 mM MgSO₄, pH 7.4). The phage to be engineered is added at a multiplicity of infection of 1-3 phages/cell (assume a cell density of approximately 1×10⁸/ml before concentration) and allowed to adsorb at room temperature for 15 minutes (this step would need modification for other phages, i.e., adsorption on ice). Meanwhile, two flasks with 5-ml broth are prewarmed to 32 and 42° C. in separate shaking water baths. The infected culture is divided and half-inoculated into each flask; the cultures are incubated an additional 15 minutes. The 42° C. heat pulse induces prophage functions; the 32° C. uninduced culture is a control. After induction, the flasks are well chilled in an ice water bath and the cells transferred to chilled 35-ml centrifuge tubes and harvested by centrifugation at approximately 6500×g for 7 minutes. The cells are washed once with 30-ml ice-cold sterile water; the pellet is quickly resuspended in 1-ml ice-cold sterile water and pelleted briefly (30 seconds) in a refrigerated microfuge. The pellet is resuspended in 200-μl cold sterile water and 50-100 μl aliquots are used for electroporation with 100-150 ng PCR product or 10-100 ng oligonucleotide. A BioRad E. coli Gene Pulser was used set at 1.8 mV and 0.1-cm cuvettes. Electroporated cells are diluted into 5 ml 39° C. LB medium and incubated to allow completion of the lytic cycle. The resulting phage lysate is diluted and tittered on appropriate bacterial to obtain single plaques (for more details, see Thompson et al., Current Protocols in Mol. Bio. 1.16.1-1.16.16, 2003).

b. Oligonucleotides.

The oligonucleotides were purchased from Invitrogen without additional purification. The purified oligonucleotide was subjected to electrophoresis in a 15% PAGE-Urea gel, excised from the gel without direct UV irradiation and eluted using the Elutrap electro-separation system (Schleicher and Schuell). The size-purified oligonucleotide was then precipitated with isopropanol, washed with ethanol, dried and stored at −20° C.

Example 6 Use of Single-Strand Oligo Recombineering in Salmonella

Wild-type galK⁺ Salmonella does not grow on minimal medium with glycerol as carbon source when 2-deoxygalactose is also present. This is due to the galactokinase function of galK⁺, which converts 2-deoxygalactose to a toxic compound for the cell causing death. Forms of Salmonella that are galK− can grow on glycerol with 2-deoxygalactose. The oligonucleotide sequence of the Salmonella typhimurium galK gene is shown with the changes incorporated to make it Gal− (SEQ ID NO: 21). The S. typhimurium gal .GTGTTCA oligo has the sequence set forth below that is 70 bases in length:

AAGTGGCGGTGGGCACCGTCTTCCAGCAGCTTTA (SEQ ID NO: 34) GTGTTCACCGCTGGACGGCGCGCAAATTGCGCTC AA This oligonucleotide was used to mutate the galK gene to Gal−. The sequence shown as SEQ ID NO: 34 has the 7 bases underlined changed from the wild-type sequence.

The Salmonella typhimurium (St)144 oligonucleotide has the sequence set forth below:

AAGTGGCGGTGGGCACCGTCTTCCAGCAGCTTTA (SEQ ID NO: 35) CCACCTGCCGCTGGACGGCGCGCAAATTGCGCTC AA

The St 144 oligonucleotide was used to correct the mutation, and make the cells Gal+. It should be noticed that this oligo creates the wild-type galK sequence with the exception of the TAT tyrosine codon, which became TAC tryrosine in the Gal⁺ recombinant.

These oligonucleotides were introduced into S. typhimurium cells transformed with plasmid pSIM5. Red functions were induced by a 15 minute temperature shift to 42° C. Recombinants with the S. typhimurium. galK.GTGTTCA oligo become galK− and survive on 2-deoxygalactose, but cannot use galactose as the only carbon source. GalK⁺ recombinants produced using the 144 oligonucleotide grow on galactose as sole carbon source and were selected in minimal galactose agar. These Gal⁺ strains were produced using recombineering with the St 144 oligo.

The new galK+strain produced by recombineering differed from wild-type at the one base of the TAT codon position 144 where the recombinant is TAC. The frequency of going from galK+ to galK−, or from galK− to galK+ (in the two recombineering crosses with oligos S. typhimurium galK.GTGTTCA and S. typhimurium (St)144) was 5% in each case. These results demonstrate that the plasmids disclosed herein can be used to introduce recombineering functions into S. typhimurium.

It will be apparent that the precise details of the methods or compositions described may be varied or modified without departing from the spirit of the described invention. We claim all such modifications and variations that fall within the scope and spirit of the claims below. 

1. A plasmid, comprising an origin of replication (ori) selected from the group consisting of pSC101, colE1, pBBR1 and RK2, a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker, a nucleic acid encoding a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a repressor that specifically binds a P_(L) promoter of lambda phage, and a lambda genome comprising the P_(L) promoter of lambda phage operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding Beta, Exo and Gam and a terminator, wherein the selectable marker replaces the rexAB coding region in the lambda genome, wherein the lambda genome contains an N-kil deletion, and wherein bacterial host cells transformed with the plasmid can perform homologous recombination.
 2. The plasmid of claim 1, wherein the on ori allows replication of the plasmid in Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, or both.
 3. The plasmid of claim 1, comprising in 5′ to 3′ order (1) O_(R); (2) a nucleic acid encoding a repressor that binds the P_(R) promoter; (3) a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a heterologous nucleic acid sequence; (4) O_(L); (5) P_(L); and (6) a nucleic acid encoding Beta.
 4. The plasmid of claim 1, wherein the ori is pSC101.
 5. The plasmid of claim 1, wherein the ori is pBBR1.
 6. The plasmid of claim 1, wherein the ori is RK2.
 7. The plasmid of claim 1, wherein the ori is colE1.
 8. The plasmid of claim 1, wherein the plasmid is pSIM2, pSIM4, pSIM5, pSIM6, pSIM7, pSIM8 or pSIM9.
 9. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM2.
 10. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM4.
 11. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM5.
 12. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM6.
 13. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM7.
 14. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM8.
 15. The plasmid of claim 8, wherein the plasmid is pSIM9.
 16. A method of producing a bacterial host cell that can perform homologous recombination, comprising introducing the plasmid of claim 1 into the bacterial host cell, thereby rendering the bacterial cell capable of performing homologous recombination.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the host cell is a gram negative bacterial cell.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the host cell is an Escherichia coli cell.
 19. A plasmid, comprising an origin of replication selected from the group consisting of pSC101, colE1, pBBR1 and RK2, a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker, a nucleic acid encoding a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a repressor that specifically binds a P_(L) promoter of lambda phage, and a lambda genome comprising the P_(L) promoter of lambda phage operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding Beta and a terminator 3′ of the nucleic acid encoding Beta, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6 or SEQ ID NO:7.
 20. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 1. 21. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 2. 22. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 3. 23. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 4. 24. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 5. 25. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 6. 26. The plasmid of claim 19, wherein the plasmid comprises SEQ ID NO:
 7. 27. A chimeric plasmid, comprising an origin of replication (ori) selected from the group consisting of pSC101, colE1, pBBR1 and RK2; and λ phage nucleic acid, wherein the λ phage nucleic acid comprises a) a nucleic acid encoding Beta, Gam and Exo operably linked to P_(L), b) O_(L) and O_(R); c) a nucleic acid encoding c1857; d) an N-kil deletion; and d) a nucleic acid encoding a selectable marker replacing a nucleic acid encoding rexAB; wherein the chimeric plasmid does not comprises the N-kil region of lambda phage, and wherein bacterial host cells transformed with the plasmid can perform homologous recombination.
 28. The plasmid of claim 27, further comprising nucleic acid encoding Orf and repγ.
 29. A method of producing a bacterial host cell that can perform homologous recombination, comprising introducing the plasmid of claim 27 into the bacterial host cell, thereby rendering the bacterial cell capable of performing homologous recombination.
 30. The method of claim 29, wherein the host cell is a gram negative bacterial cell.
 31. The method of claim 29, wherein the host cell is an Escherichia coli cell. 